tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-26204840423603008622024-03-13T21:29:53.138-04:00Milliken Project ManagementExploring the Workplace and Project Management with Jim Millikenjimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.comBlogger254125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-41328256607518977402023-11-22T13:28:00.003-05:002023-12-19T15:50:26.013-05:00The Afternoon the President Was Shot<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> On the afternoon of November 22, 1963, I was fill-in wire editor of the Elmira Star-Gazette, working with printers out in the composing room to assemble Page One of that day's paper. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">A copy boy who had been sneaking a peek at the AP wireless machines came running in: "The president has been shot!"</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Three messages had been transmitted:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> <span style="font-family: arial;"> DALLAS, Tex. AP -- Two priests who were with President Kennedy say he is dead of bullet wounds.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> DALLAS, Tex. AP -- Two priests stepped out of Parkland Hospital's emergency ward today and said President Kennedy died of his bullet wounds. Government sources in Washington said that President Kennedy is dead.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> The priests came out of the ward at approximately 1:37 p.m.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: arial; font-size: medium;"> The announcement by the priests brought audible sobs from a crowd of scores of newsmen and other citizens crowded around the emergency ward entrance.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> <span style="font-family: arial;">Sen. Ralph Yarborough, talking only a few minutes before to newsmen, collapsed in sobs as he told of witnessing the slaying of the president. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: arial;"> DALLAS, Tex. AP -- President Kennedy died at 1 p.m. Friday from an assassin's bullet.</span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">I saved the printout with the family archives, and years later my journalist-author daughter Maureen had it framed and gave it to me as a gift. The printout doesn't capture the horror of that day, but it triggers powerful memories.</span></p><p><br /></p>jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-62619575840727634732023-05-25T16:54:00.004-04:002023-09-23T21:19:46.215-04:00Education(?) and Learning(!) <p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Think back. What happened in your third-grade classroom on this date in May? What did you learn that day? </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> The day was maybe six hours long, but by now it is an undistinguishable fragment of your education career. </span><span style="font-size: large;">You don't remember what was going on in that place on that day, because it almost certainly is buried in your great mass of schoolroom experience. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;"> Overall, you probably sat in various classrooms for eight school years or so of elementary education and four years of high school. How can you know what all that sitting contributed to who you are today? </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> And then maybe you went to college, and perhaps grad school. What exactly did all those hours do for you? It may be easier to identify specific payoffs from certain grad courses and from skills training courses and workshops -- but even some of that wasn't of use to you, or has been forgotten. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> On the other hand, how much of what you know or do was acquired in one-on-one conversation you had and demonstrations you watched? And trial and error? </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> And how much knowledge and understanding, however it came to you, was absorbed and integrated into your immense mental capacity, the great dynamic that drives the thousands of tumbling thoughts, reactions and decisions that create and determine the days of your life?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> It's useful to turn those memories and questions over in the mind as we witness -- or conduct -- considerations about education today and how we do it. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> My Dad and I discussed the best purpose of education, specifically in terms of higher education, when I was preparing to go to Holy Cross, as he had done (Dad, Class of 1923; Jim, Class of 1958). We did not at all consider college to be skills training. It was to develop the mature person, the contributing citizen.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Occasionally, I have wondered over the years if that concept was too grand and somewhat empty, maybe too vague. Well, maybe not. Read on. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> My daughter Maureen extended the Milliken-HC line with her 1983 English Lit degree, and likewise became a newspaper editor. A few years ago, she was quoted thusly in a Holy Cross magazine article:</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span> <span face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #43423b;">My father did a lot of hiring during his newspaper career </span><span face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #43423b;">and always </span><span face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #43423b;">said </span><span face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #43423b;">that a good liberal arts education, combined with newspaper experience, </span><span face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #43423b;">was preferable to a journalism degree. </span></p><p><span face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #43423b;"> To that end, I </span><span face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #43423b;">believe I got a fantastic education - not only the subject matter, but the Jesuit emphasis on analysis and thinking, questioning and delving deeper. I see so many people in this business who just </span><span face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #43423b;">don't know how to think, how to question. You'd think in journalism it would be second nature, but with a lot of people it doesn't even occur to them. </span></p><p><span face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #43423b;"> On top of that, I find a lot of people have very limited world views, very limited knowledge of history and the world around them, and don't even have the smarts to realize they need to know more or the ability or curiosity to find it out.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #43423b;"> </span><span>In terms of newswriting, interviewing, deadline-meeting and other technical skills special to newspapering, Maureen picked them up easily, as I did and as I presume my Dad did, on the job. How? Using those superior skills, the ones she articulated so well. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> I'm convinced that no particular day of school, or moment in class or conversation, was determinative in the development of my accumulated abilities to think, learn and communicate. I'm equally sure that the overall progress, the direction, the specific judgments were rooted in those long-ago exchanges with Dad. Plus the recent insights from my daughter.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Thanks, Dad. Thanks, Mo.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p><p><span face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif" style="background-color: white; color: #43423b; font-size: large;"> </span></p><p> </p>jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-65933485042143594342023-05-21T12:09:00.001-04:002023-05-22T18:55:11.512-04:00<p> </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEihWnhTz1l79PRqAQRxifb_V9SJkvMSxptjgDT9oSVbLjea4cFSaX5MaDSNH7RHmaA_eArvrvz3NqiWxhXSiZ02GCL2bksiycpc_Q62H6NsbkgyTsb8kgumg3wWd6lh6DA3ZrkCpH1SDtpbcXpyid_bn2c19PSqlSjiByNm0M1hfEUMlDRKEw6jmOxJfQ" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="" data-original-height="731" data-original-width="975" height="340" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEihWnhTz1l79PRqAQRxifb_V9SJkvMSxptjgDT9oSVbLjea4cFSaX5MaDSNH7RHmaA_eArvrvz3NqiWxhXSiZ02GCL2bksiycpc_Q62H6NsbkgyTsb8kgumg3wWd6lh6DA3ZrkCpH1SDtpbcXpyid_bn2c19PSqlSjiByNm0M1hfEUMlDRKEw6jmOxJfQ=w449-h340" width="449" /></a></div> <b><span style="font-size: medium;">Looking at Katahdin on the way to Baxter State Park, Maine</span></b>jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-88607966617010161802023-05-13T13:03:00.004-04:002023-12-19T17:31:32.400-05:00Reassessing Employee Dismissals<p> <span style="font-size: medium;"> It's sort of a downside of retirement, this gradual dawning of the truth. It happens when, freed of the consuming confines of worklife, you have the time and leisure to actually think. It can be hazardous to your contentment. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Example: As a manager, I fired very few people, but maybe I shouldn't have fired any. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> I faintly recall the tight, combative feeling that develops when that final straw drops like a lead pipe, and you unholster the ultimate management weapon. I hated that feeling. I never hated the person I was rejecting/ejecting, though. I felt I was reluctantly administering just desserts. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Now, from the purgatory sanctuary of an easy chair, the retiree can shake the dust from such memories and honestly assess the garment itself -- the underlying relationships. No question those particular relationships were not good, and I identified the precipitating causes at the other end of them. But how about looking at how the situations developed?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Two of the histories occupy my attention today.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> The first is that of a headstrong young man who had flatly, and repeatedly, rejected suggestions and admonishments. His direct supervisor came to me with a demand that he be fired. He had been quite offensive and the supervisor was really angry. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Then, as the three of us sat down, he pulled out a note he had worked out for himself about how he was promising to change his ways. I shoved that aside and proceeded with the dismissal. I thereby may have missed an opportunity to help that young man mature a bit, and to deepen my own skill set. Maybe we could have worked from the new start he was offering..</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> That same supervisor later created a growth opportunity for me in a related circumstance. She gradually developed a rebellion against management restraint. There was a confrontation, then a follow-up session at which I conditioned her continued employment on an explicit understanding of the management order. In short, it must be made clear that she worked for me. She couldn't accept that and walked out. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> In effect, the event resulted in a more constructive tone in the office. Sloppy, unintended and overdue, but for the better.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> I made my "him-or-me" demand of my own boss in a later conflict with an incompetent, bullheaded colleague, -- and got the offending guy fired. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> The final decades of my career were devoted to project management consulting,. I realize now that in that role I was handing out more advice about navigating personalities and relationships than about network diagrams and risk management. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Nowadays completely on the outside looking in, reading the histories and thoughts of other people from other workplaces, it's still a learning experience. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Learning what?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> I find myself reverting to a fundamental view of management: As a manager, I was responsible. How did I conduct my part in the initiation of each individual relationship? Did I thoroughly examine, thoughtfully consider and wisely manage the beginning and the various events and moments along the way?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> As the most responsible party, what did I do or fail to do as my various relationships grew? Did I lead, advise, instruct, initiate, respond, support, critique effectively? Did I learn what I needed to know in order to conduct each activity and invest in it appropriately?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;">Doing such an assessment in these silent moments of maturity is a long process, maybe an open-ended one. It can be uncomfortable. Sometimes there's a shocking flash of enlightenment, delightful or horrifying. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> As it continues, you get to know yourself. Work at it. There are many roads to this journey, and some of them can end in deep satisfaction. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p>jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-74357184822362720532023-02-18T12:00:00.005-05:002023-02-18T12:31:19.475-05:00We’ll Be All Right<p><span style="color: #222222;"> </span><span style="color: #222222; font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Long ago and far
away, I once wrote a newspaper commentary about a single corn plant that had
popped up in our front-yard flower garden. It was for me a visual parable, a
symbol of practicality elbowing its way above mere prettiness.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>To<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>tell the truth, it looked kind
of ugly, looming over the pretty petunias or whatever. I didn’t care about
that. I just really liked its assertion of raw individuality.</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> The point
was not well made in the column, and no one expressed agreement. The article
was not particularly memorable; I can’t tell you today what it actually said.
But it did make an impression on one editorial writer, who frequently addressed
me in the office afterward as “Cornstalk”. I suspected he was doing it in
mockery, but I never got around to asking before he died a little later.</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> The corn
kernel that seeded the plant probably came from scattered bird food or dog food
that had been swept off the porch floor. The event reminded me at the time of the
pop song “I’m a Lonely Little Petunia in an Onion Patch, and All I Do Is Cry
All Day”.</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: #222222; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <b>The
cornstalk memory </b>is served up in response to a piece on the Press Herald
editorial page Feb. 4 that gave a number of reasons to be depressed about the
present state of our world and its prospects.</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> I don’t
agree with such a worldview. Never have.</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Then I
also saw a report in the paper about a guy who had just visited with a
bunch of school kids, and was really upbeat about a future to be managed by
such cheery and vigorous people. Him I agreed with.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We’re not talking about cluelessness. The adult positive attitude fully accounts
for the barriers and pitfalls out there. You just know they can be avoided or
overcome. They don’t define your world, and you intend to take care of them.</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Over a few
days, varying new inputs settle and mature in your thoughts, eventually
resulting in a glow of optimism and confidence. Even if the rest of the world
is draped in gloom, we of the cornstalk persuasion are optimistic. We’ll be all
right. </span><span style="color: #222222; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> As a
general thing, after all, there is good reason to accentuate the positive in
whatever situation. Doing so reassures you that you’re not a helpless victim.
It gives you something to work with. It asks, “What are you going to do about
it?”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: #222222; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <b>There’s
good reason</b> to ask yourself such a question. When the negative view
rules the process, the only meaningful question is, “Oh, Lord – what will
become of me?” You don’t have to do anything. You can’t. You’re a victim.</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Not so
when you accentuate the positive. In response to opportunity or danger, you
ask:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What am I going to do about it?” <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That demands a response. It presses you to do
something.</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> So you do
something. If you have an off-the-shelf response, this matter is pretty easily
taken care of. You take care of it and we don’t have this conversation.</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> But say
you don’t have that handy solution. You don’t know what to do. So now we must
figure out what to do when we don’t know what to do.</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> We have a
process – as simple or as complex as it needs to be – called problem solving.
Doing it right requires a positive mindset, a solutions attitude.</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> </span><span style="color: #222222; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> <b>The
solutions attitude</b> is essential to problem solving. No matter how
daunting the situation, however “hopeless,” you have to decide. You have to prepare
to act, then launch action with strength and vigor. It works. Wondering,
worrying and brooding do not work.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>The lesson of the cornstalk in the petunia patch is that of courage and
originality. Your solution may not be supported by others. It may look strange
--never tried before. But if you believe in your process, you apply it. You
stick with it. Make it work.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>In Super Bowl LI in February 2017, the New England Patriots were down
28-3 in the third quarter . . . and came back to beat the Atlanta Falcons
34-28. Athletic competition at that level is so intense that such a comeback
was inconceivable. But it happened.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> We are
struck by the appearance of a cornstalk in a petunia patch. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>We admire the confidence and dedication that wins a football
championship against huge <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>odds.</span><span style="color: #222222; mso-ascii-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman"; mso-hansi-font-family: Calibri;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="background: white;"><span style="color: #222222; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-fareast-font-family: "Times New Roman";"> Highly
unlikely, both of them. But they <i>actually happened</i>. If we keep our
eyes open<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>-- and our minds -- we’ll be
all right.<o:p></o:p></span></p>jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-67632339958620853652022-05-15T15:46:00.002-04:002023-05-13T13:41:37.233-04:00Patience & Tolerance. And Confidence<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span><span style="font-size: medium;"> For most of us, the towering challenge in building management competence is at the very beginning. There is a fundamental contradiction imprinted on our workplace behavior by our beginner experience. It makes Square One so difficult that some people never fully get through it. And, for those who do, applying its lessons can block further growth.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> This is how it works: </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> We first must learn the skills and practices of personal productivity. That means we work on how to order our days through time and priority management while we're learning how to do the job. If you don't get this right, you can never do anything well -- especially leadership. </span></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> But, at the same time</span></span><span style="font-size: medium;"> we must learn as managers when and how to suspend certain of the personal skills in order to handle responsibility for the output and skills development of others. That requires concentrating our attention outwards, working to understand and influence others. For example, building effective working relationships is not at base a matter of efficiency.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> So, we must focus intensely on identifying, defining and perfecting our own personal activities at the same time as we're doing the same for others. Contradictory activities.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> The first step, personal productivity, is very difficult to even understand, then to learn. It requires a lot of practice, and trial and error. <span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Once you're nailed that, you may well be considered for a promotion to a responsible position in supervision or management. This new role demands selective suspension of key parts of what you learned before, plus entry into a whole new world of perception. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> The tight focus and self discipline you developed back then to support your personal productivity can, if you're not careful, block the listening and interpersonal sensitivity you need now to relate well to those around you. You can't just DO things -- you've got to convince others to learn and do them. And they learn and do differently from you.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> As we assess the typical workplace, we see how broadly the first step is fumbled, and how much worse many do with the second. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Why? Too few of our mentors drill into us the three interlocking practices that underly everything in productive managerial behavior: attention, patience and tolerance.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> When you're serious about career development, you need to consciously resist the very human tendency to ride along in autopilot. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span> </span>As the situation becomes familiar, the days slip along and you can enjoy the freedom from uncertainty and anxiety. You and the people you work with and work for can relax in the comfort of the same old same old. You may not realize how much you're adjusting your workstyle to the situation and to the expectations of your colleagues and your managers.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> To counter that very natural development, you need to devote time to clarifying and developing your career and life goals. At the same time, pay attention to how you're conducting yourself each day in the workplace. Trim your behavior and your conversations to be consistent with personal goals and the specific opportunities and barriers in the ongoing circumstances.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Rally the group for action when appropriate. Be the organization's progress organizer and process fixer. Be the one to figure out how to take advantage of opportunities as they arise. Be the one who engages problems with solution ideas and actions. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> While you're retaining the time management and priority control of your early days, you are a knowledgeable colleague, a dependable coworker, an imaginative problem solver and a pleasant conversationalist.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Keep argument at bay, and never let uncomfortable incidents and situations fester. Be direct, be firm. Seek and enrich personal relationships throughout your contacts. </span></p>jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-33256102967496529762022-05-01T08:56:00.013-04:002023-05-25T12:02:39.630-04:00I Didn't Retire. I Just Quit. My Dad worked at his hometown newspaper for his entire career, from 1923 until his sudden death (by heart attack?) in 1956 at the age of 55. He was telegraph editor and news editor at The Elmira Star-Gazette for much of that time.<div> He must have been good at it, because I understand he had a number of opportunities to transfer to other papers in the Gannett Company. He never left Elmira and The Star-Gazette because, I was told, he didn't want to disrupt the family. He was busy fathering 14 of us during those years. </div><div> I remember Dad talking about retirement in his early 50s. I have never thought of retirement for myself. I just up and quit working a couple of years ago (age 84).<span><a name='more'></a></span><div> I went to work at The Star-Gazette after college, but lasted just eight years. There was a reason I didn't stay longer. It may just be a story I tell to cover for immaturity and a lack of foresight, but I used to say I didn't want to get dead-ended like Dad did, stuck behind two fogies in the S-G hierarchy.</div><div> I was pretty hotheaded and had a series of clashes with an egotistical bully of a boss at the paper. Then I left, just before, doubtless, I would have been fired. Then I bounced from Michigan to Ohio to Maine to New Hampshire over the next 19 years. Some of the gigs lasted as long as eight years and some were just hops, but I never again left a paper amid anger or conflict. I discouraged and/or refused some promotions, though, because I just liked being a city editor.</div><div> And some of the major family moves were triggered by motivations just as lightweight. There sometimes seemed to be interesting possibilities out there. Anna Marie had a lot more common sense</div><div> . . . except that she kept believing, against all the evidence, that someday I was going to be something. </div><div> With six kids back there at home in Dayton, Ohio, I quit to explore -- unsuccessfully -- the launch of a newspaper in Maine, where I never had been. After that fell through, we sold the house, bought tents at L.L. Bean and camped on the Maine coast until I wound up as city editor in Augusta.</div><div> Then I quit conventional employment entirely in 1986 to become an itinerant management trainer/consultant. No salary, no money. Why did I do it? An opportunity came along, and it seemed interesting.</div><div> I continued to avoid pretension, and at times was insulting to people because of my habit of poking holes in egos. (including my own). My so-called sense of humor, honed in a Scots-Irish family dominated by assertive women, often got me in hot water with colleagues and friends. Still does. </div><div><br /></div><div> <b>This reminiscence</b> is triggered by the announcement today that newspaper columnist Bill Nemitz is retiring from the Portland papers after 45 years with the company. I met Bill 'way back when he was a reporter at the Sentinel in Waterville and I was at the KJ -- or maybe already launched into my solo work.</div><div> Bill has absorbed a lot of negativity over that long, stable career. I wonder what would have happened if I had done the same.</div><div><br /></div><div><i> (This piece is appropriate for a Project Management blog because life is a project. You can find out why that is so by buying my book, <b>"Life Is a Project: How Are You Managing?"</b> on Amazon. Or from me. Just mail me a check with $25 and I'll ship it to you. Jim Milliken at 73 Mountfort Street, Portland ME 04101. </i></div><div><i> (I didn't write "Life Is a Project" for fame or fortune. In keeping with the decision philosophy of a lifetime, I did it because I wanted to.)</i></div><div> <br /><div><br /><div> </div></div></div></div>jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-37471635537170746532022-04-13T16:22:00.010-04:002022-06-18T15:02:38.071-04:00Listening, Seeing and Persuading<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Shut up and listen.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Simple to say; not always easy to do, and quite a complex challenge when properly understood. </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> <br /><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> We need to remind ourselves that this process is about the other person as well as ourselves. Any time we're in a conversation, there's something we want from that process -- and we believe the other person has it. </span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> At the very least we want to earn a favorable impression. It's a form of sales, actually.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The sales professional bases the pitch on research, observation and analysis, some of it done in advance, some in direct preparation and some while the process is under way.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> For starters, the homework. What evidence is there of the prospect’s history with the subject, and current interest in it?</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The pro also mines his/her own experience and enhances it with current observation.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> That basic information is used to shape our thinking about how to organize the presentation, however informal it is. Through the initial pleasantries, we don't want to forget our purpose, and the reasons why we think the other person should be interested in it<br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Then, as the actual process unfolds, the pro examines and analyzes how the prospective buyer is reacting. On the fly, there are continuous adjustments.<span><a name='more'></a></span></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Listening and seeing can be the determinative skills of persuasion, but perhaps the least understood ones. We notice the spoken/demonstrated sales pitch without accounting properly for the silent observation and intense mental activity that precede and accompany the action -- when it's successful.</span><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">The prospect is,</b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> in fact, a full partner in the presentation. Getting that person engaged and interested is vital, and so is keeping them in it. The process is failing if the receiver is not contributing at least half of the conversation – asking questions, offering comments, raising objections, providing information.</span></p><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The prime skills of the salesperson include those that draw the receiver out. The presenter equips themself with knowledge or educated guesswork as to what might interest the other person in this product, topic, whatever.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The person, encouraged to speak about something they’re interested in, provides the seller with the information needed to address that prospect’s needs and interests.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Be ready to withdraw if necessary. As a good sales presentation continues, it may become apparent that the intended outcome is out of reach. Once that is detected and confirmed, the presenter doesn’t push – they modify the approach. Now you’re strengthening the possibility that a sale may become possible later.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> In fact, the building of a productive relationship often is seen as the driving purpose of a sales pitch. If a person likes and respects you and your organization but is not in the market for your current product, you want to create the best situation for future sales. </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b>More broadly</b>, our lives are lived in constant relationships with multiple other people. Those relationships involve continuous exchanges, initiating and responding to communication overtures. Those are all “sales opportunities” – openings for building, maintaining and improving the value of what we can do for each other, and receive from each other.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> There is plenty of potential there for advancement of our intentions and quality of life. We often are too passive in our listening and viewing, not realizing that the combination can significantly improve our ability to convince other people.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> We tend to believe that seeing and hearing are automatic functions that just happen without any conscious involvement on our part. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Successful salespeople know better.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Those who succeed at sales do so because they have made themselves topnotch listeners. You and I can do the same. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">We start improving our listening when we recognize and take action on several truths:</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> 1.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Hearing is only part of how we derive information from conversation and detection of other sounds. The same is true of seeing.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p></o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -24px;"> 2.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; text-indent: -24px;">In fact, we often blend hearing and seeing in our perception and in drawing conclusions about what is going on around us.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><br /></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> 3.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Any situation we are in evolves quickly from the relatively passive seeing and hearing functions into analysis, evaluation and decision – all of which offer abundant opportunity for learning, growth and productive action.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> 4.<span style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: 7pt; font-stretch: normal; font-variant-east-asian: normal; font-variant-numeric: normal; line-height: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Thoughtful and well-presented questions can validate, correct and extend our understanding.<o:p></o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 4pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><div style="font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; margin-left: 32.25pt; text-indent: -0.25in;"><br /></div><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span> <b>Those who are most</b> persuasive understand when their messages are being received – or rejected – and they know how to identify the reasons for the responses. The good salesperson does more listening than talking, especially at the beginning of an exchange.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> I used to put it this way to students in a personal selling course: If you’re still talking after the first eight seconds, you’re on the way to failure. That was an exaggerated way of making the point about listening.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> If you listen, people will tell you what will convince them. Not in so many words, necessarily, but their conversation about the subject, their answers to well-worded questions, will reveal what they want or need. If the message is that there is no interest, the good salesperson may ease off the presentation, perhaps leaving a thought that might mature into a sales later.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> Listening </o:p></span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">is the most important of the communication skills, and perhaps the hardest to learn and practice well. You can’t do it while you’re talking. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Shutting up, politely reworded, means you just stop talking. It looks to be the easier of the two and sometimes it is. </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">And “easier” isn’t necessarily “easy.” There are times when it’s all you can do to keep silent, and times when speaking up brings all sorts of trouble.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> There also is an important internal complication. When you aren’t talking, there’s still nonstop chatter going on in your head. It’s called “self-talk,” largely spontaneous and effectively impossible to stop.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Self-talk isn’t verbal, and it isn’t in coherent sentences. It’s mostly impressions, fragments of memory, involuntary reactions. You usually don’t consciously notice it, but it occupies your attention. It may respond to what you’re hearing, seeing, thinking or feeling. It may go off on some unrelated direction, triggered by the present or not.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> I don’t know how they measure such things, but I’ve read that experts say self-talk is continuously running in your head <i>four times </i>as fast as spoken speech. From personal experience, I can say self-talk sometimes blocks or redirects a person’s thinking and listening.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> You’re not even conscious of most of it but it conditions your response to people and situations, and your expectation of outcomes. It can make it very hard to focus on something, especially conditions and concepts that are unpleasant or demanding.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b>So listening</b> isn’t all about your ears, or even mostly about what you hear. It’s what is going on inside your head while sounds are coming in from outside. In fact, by the time your thinking is affected by sounds, what you originally heard has been changed, filtered in your mind. What you record as what you heard may be entirely different from what a companion remembers.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> I visualize the listening process in a series that begins with <i>hearing</i>: A sound disturbs air particles, sending a wave jostling a succession of particles that eventually vibrate your eardrum, which transmits the motion to that fluid and tiny bones of the middle and inner ear.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The ear converts the vibrations to electrochemical signals which, sent to the brain, and the brain forms questions about it: Have I heard this before? What is it?</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The immediate response tends to be emotional and subjective: Is this good for me, or is it scary or threatening? If I’ve never heard it before, I may assign it to what seems to be a likely category. Tree branches rubbing together in a night wind may result in mental images from scary ghost stories.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Conversely, popular music from my high school years can put me in a very good mood. That’s why old songs often are used to back up commercial messages on TV and radio.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b>When you look </b>at the hearing process this way, you see that the initial steps are largely involuntary. Sound impacts the eardrum and is transmitted to the brain. The brain seeks to identify it, then determines whether this is good or bad for me.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> If I remain passive, the determination might be that this person sounds a lot like that fifth-grade bully who gave me such a hard time. So now, in the present day, I dislike this adult I’ve just met for the first time. My built-in prejudice determines my relationship with this (prospective customer, new boss, salesperson). Not good.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> I want to avoid that kind of uncontrolled decision-making, so I learn and practice <i>active listening</i>. The secret is in my conscious attention to how I listen and what I do about what I’m hearing.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> It starts with attitude. You make sure your behavior is consistent with your intent. There’s a reason why experts in the art of selling tell us that listening is the number one sales skill . . . when the listening is done properly.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> When your attitude is that of sincere interest, it not only encourages the person to open up, beginning a friendly relationship. And people like to buy from people they like.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b>You focus on </b>the other person with the intent of learning all you can about what is being said. You ask questions to make sure you understand meaning and intention.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> You make eye contact. You nod and smile at appropriate moments. You’re not pushy and you don’t dominate the conversation. You create an atmosphere conducive to persuasion.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> We’re all in “sales.” Whatever your station in life, you want things from other people. And people want things from you. Every exchange develops some kind of relationship, however brief. The more pleasant that relationship is, the more profitable it will be, whether financially or in some other “currency” -- such as cooperative activity.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> In a communication transaction, the active listener is an alert participant. The person’s reactions and actions result from conscious decisions. Any initial emotion does not control how the person responds. Instead, response is a productive addition to the exchange.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Especially for leaders, every personal exchange is an opening for negotiation, in which building productive relationships is always a part. No contact with others is seen as meaningless.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Manner and actions are negotiations, too. People are attentive to others’ behavior, especially that of higher-ranking people. If you’re always in a hurry, you’re signaling that you’re too busy to care about others. If you make a practice of pausing to acknowledge people, however briefly, they appreciate the attention.</span><br /><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Living in this world creates and uses multiple networks -- all of them dependent upon people influencing each other. Doing that well is worth the effort.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></div>jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-36514356874544179602022-03-08T11:12:00.015-05:002022-04-16T11:54:33.858-04:00Act Like a Manager<p> <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">It’s not public relations exactly, although
it’s closely allied. It’s the manner and behavior we instantly associate with The
Boss.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The boss is the person whose directives are to be followed (and, sometimes, the one to be
blamed for whatever is disagreeable in our workplace.)</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">“PR” has become something of a familiar cliché
in modern America. We toss it out as a verbal sneer at anything we consider
phony and hollow in the utterances of prominent people. Too bad, because
real PR is an important and valuable element in our public discourse. It’s how
we extend the value of good things by telling people about them.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>True, that telling can be exaggerated,
distorted or false, but most of what we see and hear in such promotion is reasonably
honest and true. Also, our critical thinking skills enable us to sort out the
value from the trash – when we exercise our duty to do so.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So, back to the workplace. You have an
opinion of your boss as a manager, the person ultimately responsible for the results
of your group's work. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>However, the manager is not solely
responsible. In a healthy organization, each of us must carry a share of that
responsibility. It is extremely important, vitally important, that the
individual and the manager understand and practice their roles in this form of
partnership.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The manager must be personally clear on
what the organization is to accomplish and how it is to function . . . and must
share with each staff member an equally clear picture of how that person fits.
And, of course, what that means for the actions and behavior of that person.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Each of us staff people must also be clear -- within ourselves and with others -- on the actions and behavior that fulfill our obligations in the organization.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Being clear” is an abstract expression
for a complex set of communication actions that involve talking, listening,
watching and demonstrating for the purpose of equipping the staff member to do
certain things, and convincing that staff member to do those things correctly
and dependably. If I were to see a video clip of myself on the job, would I see myself doing those things?<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is incumbent on both parties to set up
and conduct the process with the minimally necessary amount of continuing contact
between the two. Collaboration and communication are essential, but too much of
either wastes the valuable resource of individual contribution.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The manager sets the tone and carries the
major weight. The manager walks and talks with confidence in the relationship
of mutual respect and defined responsibility. Just look and listen, and you can
tell.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The manager acts like a manager.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">---</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> SEE ALSO: Management Power, Management Behavior </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> http://jimmillikenproject.blogspot.com/2018/04/management-power-management-behavior.html</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-1253089479702644822022-03-05T15:54:00.003-05:002022-04-16T12:01:59.786-04:00Wisdom, If You're Smart. Or Mom<p><span style="font-size: medium;"> "We grow too soon old and too late smart."</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> My mother used to say that, in her version of a Pennsylvania Dutch accent. I have never heard an actual practitioner of that vernacular, but I suspect Mom's rendition of it was atrocious. Not that she would have been all that bothered. All she cared about was making the point. And make the point she did. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> She was, in fact, the very exemplar of the wisdom/wise smarts illuminated by the quote. She knew an awful lot, having produced a lot of smart kids after marrying a wise man. Her own formal education had been stunted by the need to learn and carry adult responsibilities as the oldest child in a family that needed her to do that. But she became a human encyclopedia over decades of conversation as we kids came home from school brimming over with new knowledge.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> In the latter half of her adulthood, as a widow, she made it her business to repair some of the shortfalls in her formal education. But for me, going back to my earliest memories and continuing through her long life, my mother was unfailingly smart and wise.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> The smart-wise combination is not all that common, you know. Smartness can grind on wisdom, and wisdom tends to suffocate smartness. But the two depend on each other, and in the long run you operate on a dynamic combination. Succeeding at it requires attention.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> As we navigate life, we need to keep learning fresh stuff to deal with new challenges and opportunities. But what to put in, what to leave out? And some of what we already know and do becomes obsolete, sometimes dangerous. What to weed out, what to keep? What to change and how?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Familiar old skills and practices need tuning and refreshing, trimming and remodeling. Why, when and how to do that?</span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> The how-to is not particularly easy, and it most definitely is not quick. Earning and applying it calls for conscious. persistent effort. Judgment is the working engine of wise, smart change. Patience is its fuel and discipline is both the gas pedal and the brake. My lifetime is the trip. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"> Thanks, Mom for the roadmap. </span></p><p> </p><p> </p>jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-90035086483511200132021-04-30T17:08:00.168-04:002022-05-22T15:29:19.939-04:00Language Abuse, Grammar Addiction<p> <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> "I'm silently correcting your grammar."</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;">
That's what it says on my new coffee cup, and that’s what I do.
Can’t help it. I'm commenting (to myself) about the stylistic quality of what I'm hearing in this conversation we're having. I'm commenting in detail, all in my head.<span><br /></span> </span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> An obsession with the rules of language arose in me early, and has sent down deep roots over the ensuing decades.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I'm the son of an editor. I wrote well from an early age. I was successively an English major, a
newspaper editor and a management/writing instructor. I designed and delivered
a three-day course in Business Writing and a daylong training session for working professionals called “A Grammar Refresher.”
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You don’t easily get over such a history.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><br /></span><p></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there are a lot of us so afflicted.
When we amateur grammarians are together – such as enjoying a family TV evening – we drive everyone
else to distraction. All commercials, and all newscasts and other
programs, are met with a stream of critical commentary on whatever language is
involved. Needless to say, the remarks rarely are complimentary.</span></p><span></span><span></span><p style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, serif;">Reading the newspaper</b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> is a special
treat for grammar addicts – especially those who are recovering newspaper
editors.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>(Do you know how many times “its” was
mistakenly presented as “it’s” in today’s paper?)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For
the information of those who care – and the many who don’t – there is nothing
sacred about the relationship between the apostrophe and the possessive. It doesn't always have to be there. Have you noticed that "his"<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> lives happily without one?</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> But t</span>he
poor apostrophe does have a number of jobs, one of which is to show elision, the dropping
of one or more letters from a word. “All’s well that ends well,” for example, is
a statement that bounces well off the tongue when "All's" takes over for “all is.”
That’s one of Shakespeare’s many gifts to the linguist. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How
did the apostrophe come about, anyway? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>’Way back in the history of our language, I’m
told, you’d use the possessive pronoun “his” in this way: “John his book.” Over
time, the term was shortened to “John’s book,” with the apostrophe -- contributed by the French language -- marking the
spot where the possessive pronoun used to be. (The feminine possessive was
never granted an elision for this.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 8pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>The coffee cup</b> whose inscription triggered all
this is a gift to editor-writer me from my writer-editor daughter Maureen, another recovering newsperson and self-identified grammar addict <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now that I'm older and wiser, somewhat, I
generally keep such critiques to myself. The instinct to help people improve
their linguistic habits is never appreciated. They take it personally, and being
right does not make you popular. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> Some really ugly exchanges can
be ignited by a sarcastic chuckle at someone’s self-assured remark about, say,
the serial (Oxford) comma, the one that goes before the "and" at the end of a series. Or not.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why do people take this stuff so personally? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> Apparently,
your speech is closely tied to your sense of self. Something you’ve learned is
something you’ve earned, and it’s precious to you. Experience proves that
people’s first acquaintance with anything becomes their conviction
about it. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They’ll fight you, maybe physically, if
you demean some treasured definition or usage they picked up along the way.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 8pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>We refer to it</b> as “grammar,” but what
do we mean? <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A veteran reporter once told me she had
been given a test by a newspaper that was considering her for a staff job. She
was asked to name the parts of speech. “Well, I could think of subject and
predicate,” she told me, “but then I couldn’t remember the others.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sorry, my dear friend, subject and predicate
generally are not parts of speech, although they are parts of a sentence. (She got the
job anyway. Probably sounded fine to the editor.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some people think any words you say or
write fall within the definition of grammar. But some words don't. This language field is infested with tight-minded lawgivers. I</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> saw one formal definition that confined
grammar to the rules for use of the eight parts of speech. Or is it nine? Ten? More?</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Test yourself: What </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><i>are</i> those parts of speech?</span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> <i>(I pause here so you can write them down.) </i></span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"> The parts of speech are noun,
pronoun, adjective, adverb, preposition, conjunction, interjection ("Hey!") and article/determiner ("the" and "a"). That's eight. The article sometimes is classified as an adjective. And articles can be subdivided</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"> into definite (the) and indefinite (a). And verbs can be lexical or auxiliary. Conjunctions split into a couple of classes. And so on.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Instead of all that y</span>ou might want to simplify things with one broad and
inclusive definition: Grammar is a set of actual or presumed prescriptive
notions about correct use of a language.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Not so fast. Imagine tossing the red meat
of the term “presumed prescriptive” into the middle of a conversation among a
few grammarians. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 8pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="color: black; font-family: "Georgia",serif;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Language abuse</b> is constant. Even normally
forgiving people have to be sick of the inappropriate use of the adverb “incredibly”
these days. “Incredible” means beyond belief.</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">“I’m incredibly impressed.” Do you mean
you don’t believe you’re impressed? Or are you suggesting we shouldn’t believe
you’re impressed? Or are you just mindlessly using the word to indicate you’re
really, really impressed?</span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">As one of these sloppy usages sweeps the
country, the foul phenomenon reminds us once again how handy a popular cliché is
in saving a speaker/writer the pain of thinking too</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">much – even as it robs the listener/reader of meaningful value. </span></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><br /></p><p style="margin: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">In the end, your use of language needs to
account for three important matters:</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 8pt;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">1.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b>Most people</b> don’t know or care
about everyday grammar errors. However, if your target readership/listenership includes 25
percent who know proper grammar, those people do care about the
difference. They tend to be judgmental, and they tend to be influencers -- meaning they're very ready with very definite opinions</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 10.6667px;">, </span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif;">and many people listen to them.</span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 10.6667px;"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-bidi-font-family: Georgia; mso-fareast-font-family: Georgia;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">2.<span style="font: 7pt "Times New Roman";"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b> You wouldn’t write</b> if you
didn’t intend to have readers. If your readers have the normal range of sophistication, you want the text to be useful and pleasant to everybody, the least
educated and most educated among them. </span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> <b>Good grammar</b> can be so labored it turns your regular reader off. Tinker with your wording until it is both accurate and acceptable.</span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">3. </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> . . . To butcher a famous comment</span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> by Professor Henry Higgins: It doesn't matter what you say or write if you don't word it correctly. </span></p><p class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -0.25in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Good luck.</span></p>
<p class="MsoListParagraph"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">--</span></b></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;">See
also:</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Project
Management: Words Matter<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"> https://www.blogger.com/blog/post/edit/2620484042360300862/9003508648351120013</p>jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-28865672826076902902021-01-05T14:18:00.002-05:002021-09-15T20:42:55.956-04:00Holding My Chin and Shutting My Mouth<p> <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">Holding my chin while I’m trying to think
deeply may not be necessary, but it seems to help. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When I’m trying to listen, on the other
hand, shutting my mouth is more than helpful. It’s absolutely essential. So is
clearing my mind, and so is focusing my attention – sort of like deep thinking.
All that is a lot of work, so we don’t experience a great deal of it around us.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> Here is how it works: W</span>hen I am in conversation and,
shutting my mouth, put my hand to my chin, I am signaling my partner in that
situation that I am thinking (maybe deeply) and focusing my attention. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If, at the same time, I continue looking
at the other person, they will tend to conclude that I am taking them seriously
and paying attention to what they’re saying. <span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"><span></span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It worked both ways. What I did maintained
my own attention as it encouraged the other person to continue in the expectation that they would be listened to.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The deeper, lasting effect was to strengthen
the relationship between us. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Professional salespeople</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> know
that such relationships create success in the moment and build for a mutually productive
future.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There’s
more to it than that, of course. You can’t just stare at someone in an attempt
to develop that relationship. You have to say something. When I do, especiallly if I respond
substantively to what the person said, I complete what has been a moment of
effective listening.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The benefit comes in what you say, and how
and when. And, most importantly, <i>why.</i><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> Idle, unfocused chatter wastes
precious opportunity, and in fact diminishes it. Even informal exchanges with a
spouse convey meaning, so they should have intention. This may come off as ridiculous
and utterly inappropriate, but it’s not. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I’m thinking of a conversation I had once
with a couple who had been married for many years. I was shocked at the way the
woman treated her husband. He didn’t say much, just a few mild remarks. Yet,
each time he opened his mouth, his wife ferociously ragged his every comment.
This in front on me, a stranger. He did not react at all.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> I’ve never again seen so negative
a relationship, nor one so unbalanced.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt; mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">I’ve
thought about</b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> that incident a number of times over the intervening years -- and I’ve
paid attention to the behavior of couples.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not unusual for one person to make an
idle remark to or about the other person in a critical or insensitive way. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Comments like that usually draw a sharp
rebuke, which then occasions a testy exchange – hopefully brief – or a dismissal.
One gets the impression that this has happened before. Rarely is there anything
like a retraction or apology. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can assume some angry words are exchanged
later when the couple is alone.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sometimes, if I know the people well
enough, I tell them the story about the long-married couple and their fractured
relationship. I gently suggest some attention be paid to devoting more time and
more words to the love that underlies their being together.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I believe that, if someone doesn’t wake up
and correct such corrosive behavior, any couple can descend to a level where respect
is stripped away, followed by loss of love. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p> </o:p></span></b><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That lesson,</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> handled
carefully, can be reinterpreted to apply to any relationship between people,
including that in our business lives.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If we forgo demonstrations of respect
toward the people we work with, the minor frictions and collisions of our days can
become the dominant elements in our attitudes.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> There will be more complaints and
accusations, and fewer positive comments and honestly open-ended questions.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What we say and do will sour what we
think, and our thoughts will influence our attitudes and the signals that manage
our relationships.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Attitudes and relationships develop and
change over time, of course, and our own changes often are not at all obvious to
us. The incoming signals often can tell us what we’re doing to our
relationships. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is where we need to work on our
awareness. The behavior and expressions of our associates are continuously signaling
us. People will not always tell us what they’re thinking, even when we ask. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="line-height: 107%;"><o:p><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif;"><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span></span></o:p></span><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We need to</span></b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"> put chin
in hand, shut up and do some real thinking about what we’re seeing and hearing. And what
we’re doing.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-87264902974806806942020-10-27T14:34:00.001-04:002021-09-15T20:49:32.104-04:00The Essential Contrarian<p> <span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">If you don’t have a contrarian in your
group, go find one.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Contrarians are those people who<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>doubt everything, question beyond reason, keep
pushing for more explanation. They stretch out discussion when you just want to
get some damn thing done.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
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</w:wrap></v:path></v:stroke></v:shape><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The contrary spectrum runs from skepticism
to all-out opposition. Wherever the bothersome person is on the spectrum,
responding with anger or dismissal – which is <i>really </i>tempting – is the
wrong way to go. And don’t ignore it – some staff members will be listening,
and you should be, too.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Contrarians aren’t always just plain
negative, but sometimes they really are. When that is so, they need to go find
work elsewhere. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Mature
managers know how to handle the entire range. They understand the importance of
listening before acting, seeking to understand what drives a person’s beliefs.
Sometimes complainers benefit from explanation, sometimes they just need a
respectful listener.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> <span></span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once the heat of a complaint is dissipated, the manager can gain useful knowledge. The good listener benefits from detecting and
employing any useful insights. Contrarians often expose undetected kernels
of truth.<o:p></o:p></span><p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On another front, managers don’t have to
be inhumanly calm all the time. Flashes of irritation in certain situations can
strengthen relationships and improve performance.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In general, though, your job as a manager is
to keep your eye on the, ball maintaining momentum toward clear purpose.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In
most of the places where I worked back in the day, we didn’t have that kind of
management. There was a consistent effort to suppress disagreement, sometimes
simply by enforcing the boss-is-always-right syndrome; sometimes through a lazy
need to just get on with it, smothering all that bother of doing it right.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b>Groupthink can be a pleasant</b> way to
operate if nothing needs to change much. Of course, It doesn’t contribute much to growth and improvement.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A companion syndrome is conformity,
voluntary or enforced. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I once worked at a daily newspaper where
the senior editors tried to smooth any raised hackles with a favorite maxim:
“We’re all ladies and gentlemen here.” At a daily newspaper! (Well, not a very
good one.)<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Enthusiastic newsgathering pushes up
against, and often over, the outside boundary of politesse. “Our job is to
comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Actually,
neither promoting the status quo nor inciting confrontation/conflict is
essential in the character of successful news organizations. They happen when any medium of information is characterized by
integrity, curiosity and candor, a pursuit bound to support healthy communities
and, on occasion, ignite friction and irritation.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While we want it to be that way, although we
won’t always<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>like its outcomes. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Groupthink tends to favor the easier route, while the contrarian makes sure the uncomfortable possibility isn’t suppressed
simply because it is uncomfortable.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When a groupthink process is launched by a
snap<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>decision-maker, it can be dangerous.
<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Thinking is work, and bringing a group to
a decision can be uncomfortable. So, when the snap-thinker volunteers to take
care of something, we all happily concur. We stop thinking and jump in the back
to ride along and let the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>volunteer do
the driving.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">That is not quality decision-making. It breezes
right past the questions and possibilities whose application would have made a
stronger process. Or maybe headed off a bad outcome.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span><b><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"> The important lesson </span></b><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;">to be drawn here is one
every good manager has learned, often from painful experience: Stop, look and
listen. Never make a decision without ensuring that you have done your due
diligence. It is not at all unusual for a modest amount of probing to turn up
important new facts, pro or con.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>None of us is immune to annoyance when one
of our assumptions is diminished or dismissed, perhaps without much respect. Mature
acceptance at such times is a necessary piece of the manager’s toolkit.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You must at times cause the commotion
yourself. As you create or sponsor innovation, you’ll be supporting
contrarians or creating the discomfort yourself.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good for you, because one of the most
shameful failures of bad management is the avoidance of a good idea because it
could “cause trouble.”<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A meaningful advance for your organization
will disrupt accustomed functions, inject change in roles and processes. You
can’t expect everyone to be enthusiastic about that, and people issues often
are the manager’s most difficult challenges in introducing change.</span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: Georgia, serif; font-size: 12pt;"> Groupthink is not always your friend when changes are being laid on a group.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, carefully preparing, introducing
and conducting a big change is itself a large project. The change is distinct
in performance while intimately connected with the organizational function.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Change managers often have overlooked that
reality because of haste and/or poor judgment. Sometimes their focus on some
new process and its perceived benefits blinds them to the possibility of
problems.<o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That’s where the contrarian is most
valuable: Pressing you to stop, look and listen. <o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-family: "Georgia",serif; font-size: 12pt;"><o:p> </o:p></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-76897530332438496082019-04-01T16:15:00.002-04:002020-09-21T09:57:47.809-04:00Succeeding When You Don't Know What to Do<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;"> <b>Unknown
unknowns</b> are in the very center of Project Management. </div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Project management is the process of
making something new. When you do that, you may be just assembling familiar
pieces in familiar ways. That’s the simplest activity on the arc that graduates
through levels of familiarity (process management, really) into areas of
creativity at increasing levels of risk.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Risk is the possibility that what you
attempt won’t work, and failure can sometimes carry a high price. So project
work often is launched and conducted tentatively. The sponsoring organization
bases its approach on wishing and hoping more than on managing, particularly
managing risk. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Timidity puts real project success out of
reach, and many organizations assume that’s the way it has to be.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Successful organizations, on the other
hand, accept a certain level of failure. They learn from their failures, and
apply the learning to a broad pattern of success. Their failure is a
purposeful, controlled component of their success. They know they can’t grow
without it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The
fundamental structure</b> of creative success is project management. It starts
with how circumstances are evaluated.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">“Knowns,”</b>
in project management, are the elements of a situation that require management
but don’t carry much risk. You just have to manage resources and schedule well
to achieve success with your knowns. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some people, including myself, call that kind
of work “process management.” It can be very important and very valuable, but
it’s not really project management.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When risk is part of the equation, you’re
getting into real project management. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>Start
with <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">known unknowns.</b> They are the
challenges you know you’re going to face, such as, “How do we solve these three
technical challenges and get this gizmo running by X date without spending more
than Y dollars?” They’re risky, but the risks are within familiar bounds.
You’ve seen similar situations before. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There are additional factors that can
deepen the need for a project management approach. Common ones are complexity,
unfamiliarity and various dependencies.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In this situation of uncertainty, you have
to get dedicated, imaginative, reliable input from stakeholders – but your
stakeholders may not really grasp what this is all about. They just know how
they want it to turn out.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">This
is dealing</b> with known unknowns. It can be quite difficult, so much so that
many managers really don’t expect any project to fully succeed. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The common expectations can be so low that
managers come to expect project overruns in budget and schedule – along with
shortfalls in meeting expectations.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such an attitude leads to carelessness
that fulfills the negative expectations.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One example is a shutdown of situational
awareness, another important factor in project success. Some of what we do in
projects is so familiar we are in danger of slipping into an “autopilot"
mentality. We slide along an accustomed route and fail to catch the moment it
intersects with the new and unfamiliar.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Good project management includes this
awareness, the attention to the ongoing activities that alerts the manager when
something is not working as intended. This attentive engagement twins up with
proper planning to create a fail-safe system of observation that is essential
to keeping the project on the right trajectory.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Unknown unknowns</b> are mysteries residing at the apex of the hierarchy
of project challenges. The more innovative the desired result, and the more
creative the challenge to achieve it, the less sure you can be about how to go
about the project.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>At some point, you realize that this
project is into areas so unfamiliar that you have no idea even where to look
for problems and barriers. If you get thrown on the defensive because you keep
getting hit with unexpected difficulties, your chances for success keep
diminishing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The handy way to describe this situation
is: “What do you do when you don’t know what to do?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What you do is <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">risk management.</b> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The
professional response<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"> </b>to unknown
unknowns is to make them known through progressive low-risk piloting. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You swallow the risk in limited portions,
carefully planning, tracking and analyzing the results of each step, then
repeating with the new knowledge. You never risk a lot as you create concrete
experience of what works.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Expectations and assumptions</b> are recorded in advance. So are
specifics about steps to be taken and the intended result of each. Then, as
each part progresses, real-time measurements are taken and evaluated. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Adjustments are made as needed, and
succeeding steps are developed on the basis of the newly learned information.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With practice<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">,</b> this careful development of actual experience does not have to be
excessively time-consuming. And, of course, you’re not investing valuable time
in repairing damage.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>This,
in common with many effective project management tools, is not as popular as it
deserves to be. The sense of hurry and worry too often associated with the
project management mentality does not encourage the initiation of
small-increment early steps within a controlled pattern.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That also is a project risk, this time
within the attitude and performance of the project manager.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Over-all,
the answer</b> to handling project risk becomes obvious, although not simple:
When you don’t know what to do, find out.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>WHAT DO YOU THINK?</b> <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you review projects of your experience,
how do you rate the relationship between intended quality and perceived risk?
How was it handled?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">SEE ALSO: Winning without Power<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><a href="https://jimmillikenproject.blogspot.com/2010/11/boss-i.html"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>https://jimmillikenproject.blogspot.com/2010/11/boss-i.html</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-57781375433504363372019-02-18T10:33:00.001-05:002023-12-19T15:08:38.335-05:00Real Leaders, for Good or Ill <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
I saw this college
classmate, Dick, every day back then, but he was not a close buddy. Dick was a
member of the football team who rarely got into a game. Academically, he won no
honors, as far as I know. He held no important positions. He was not prominent
in any way.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, I’ll never
forget him. All these decades later, the message of his example remains strong in
my mind. The message: Integrity matters.<br />
<o:p></o:p><br />
<a name='more'></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He stays in my
memory because he was a straight-shooter in all the daily acts of life. His
integrity was routine. Where various of us would bend the rules or evade an
obligation when it was safe to do so, Dick never did.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And on occasion
he would quietly remind various of us that we were better than we were acting
at that moment. His advice was never offensive, because he offered it
respectfully and you respected him, the guy who was living his advice.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was years
later that it dawned on me: This guy was a leader. His example, and his
occasional admonishments, influenced the behavior of those around him. In my
case, the effects have lasted a lifetime.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Negative examples often</b> are more
noticeable, and in the short term perhaps more powerful than the positive ones.
Authority often is misused, for example, becoming a tool of personal advantage.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In a democratic
system, certainly, authority is granted to facilitate decision-making. It’s a
way to get things done. It is very vulnerable to abuse, and we often see those
who hold authority using it to force compliance or avoid responsibility. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When the boss
requires you to run household errands for him, you know you’re doing it only because
you have to – a workplace price is involved.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That, too, is
leadership. It is a demonstration of behavior by a person holding a position we
are expected to respect. It contributes to a mental pattern we develop about
such people. We live with it, or perhaps resist – which can earn us unpleasant
results of one kind or another.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The most
pervasive of leadership faults is avoidance – failure to engage problems or
take actions that would entail discomfort for the decision-maker. When the
responsible person refuses to face up to problem people and destructive
situations, the damage can be deep and permanent. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such a boss
usually is not in direct contact with the problem, so can easily remain unconcerned
as it bedevils the working staff people every day. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The decision</b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">to evade</b> a tough decision is itself a decision, and the person who
behaves that way holds a position of responsibility. Therefore, that person is
a leader – someone we are required to follow. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The concept of
leadership can be stripped bare, seen simply as the practice of establishing
desired outcomes and enforcing desired behavior. In those terms, it can unbalance
the relationship of authority and responsibility, rendering the position
ostensibly amoral.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Yet, every
decision-making system is based on some set of ultimate principles, not
necessarily high-minded ones. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the basic
assumptions of the authoritative person are commercial, there will be a dollars-and-cents
value system driving the decision-making. If they are humane, matters of
organizational importance will be balanced by concern for individuals.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We all have known
people who, somewhat shallow and selfish, generally made decisions that advanced
their personal preferences more than the organization’s interests and the welfare
of their co-workers.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>My experience has been that, when the
working-level managers operate in such fashion, it is evidence their own supervising
managers lack the vision and commitment to hire and lead truly effective staff
members.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That makes for a
grim experience when someone feels the workplace should support personal growth
and meaningful opportunity. I’m sure that opportunity was a hallmark wherever my long-ago
acquaintance Dick went to work.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And the example
he set decades ago remains a vivid influence on me, far outlasting the relationship
itself.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Try this:</b> Think about your workplace. What
is the behavior of the managers and what effect does it have on the general
attitude of the staff members? Post your thoughts as a comment below.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">See
also: Little-Things Leadership<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<a href="file:///C:/Users/lifei/Documents/Jim's%20old%20files/1%20-%20New%20Documents/%20%20%20%20%20http:/jimmillikenproject.blogspot.com/2014/04/little-things-leadership.html"><span style="mso-color-alt: windowtext; text-decoration: none; text-underline: none;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;">http://jimmillikenproject.blogspot.com/2014/04/little-things-leadership.html</span></a><span style="font-size: 10pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-47568624333936877522018-11-29T13:28:00.000-05:002018-12-08T08:48:46.314-05:00Communicate Like a Manager<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDeAg2B2KZ_vLAUl3V9VncDcgybzJsVfqACKhl-9umzOP0_Xu_w-ssG25j3rO1x0Q9Zf7pnCbrq8nLFa95uSCv-6j2xKaRrlhrU5gbGRX22I0T-vM-INuTo5wdH-S7sQAnGKCwd1Q3t8N0/s1600/Blog-18.14.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="391" data-original-width="381" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDeAg2B2KZ_vLAUl3V9VncDcgybzJsVfqACKhl-9umzOP0_Xu_w-ssG25j3rO1x0Q9Zf7pnCbrq8nLFa95uSCv-6j2xKaRrlhrU5gbGRX22I0T-vM-INuTo5wdH-S7sQAnGKCwd1Q3t8N0/s320/Blog-18.14.png" width="311" /></a></div>
<b> </b><br />
<b> </b>Don was a substantial person, in body
and in manner. He was sure and solid.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Burt was
knowledgeable and precise. He always was on time, always accurate.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Cove was
commanding and demanding. You knew he was in charge, and he brooked no
disrespect.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Dick was reliable
and supportive, respectful of people’s ideas.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you were going
to assemble a pretty good manager, you could do worse than start by combining
those four guys. Putting them all together would have been impossible, of
course, not least because none of them would have put up with the others for
very long. Independent judgment was a common characteristic of their management
style.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Each of them had
his limitations, too.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don didn’t communicate
well. Burt couldn’t manage larger issues. Cove was thin-skinned and prickly.
Dick was poor at strategic thinking.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">How about you and me? <o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In evaluating
your own management expertise, it’s best to NOT start with the standard lists
of strengths and weaknesses. That automatically establishes tendencies and
closes some doors.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You first work on
something more basic and more general: Self-awareness and its practical
partner, preparedness.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The poor
performance of self-awareness is signaled by the too-frequent occurrence of the
“Oops!” syndrome: You find yourself unequipped in a present circumstance
because, you now realize, you should have thought ahead and done some homework.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Homework could
mean actually looking stuff up and organizing. Or it could be thinking about
the person you will be working with – recent exchanges that may need tidying
up, or fulfillment of an agreement to provide information or some minor item. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You don’t want to
get used to that feeling of having blown little things. It could encourage
sloppy habits on your part and low expectations of you by those you work with.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The habit of self-awareness</b> is a
fundamental managerial characteristic that requires consistent and permanent
attention. Developing the initial habit is a big deal. You know it’s working
when you find yourself regularly acting in ways consistent with the management
self-image you want.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The image itself
should be a conscious construction. Think about it. How did you get the idea of
what you do as a manager?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Well, you’ve had
managers all your adult life. What did they do? It may surprise you when you
look closely, but you may have adopted some of the bad behaviors you suffered
from as a subordinate. Why? Probably the same reasons those bad role models
did: You didn’t know any better, and responded in self-defense to the
unexpected pressures of management.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Now that you’re
self-aware, you’re going to detect and root out those behaviors. Survival
skills are not management skills. However natural it was to build defenses and
adopt tactics when you were flailing about in a sea of unexpected demands,
those are not the things grown-up managers do.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">For one thing,</b> managers must expect to
be misunderst00d. No matter how well you explain, and how thoughtful your
manner is, there will be people who think the worst of you, and show it.
Sometimes they will be the people you value the most. It can hurt.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Over time, your
associates and staff people will forget the injustices they committed against
you, but your reaction will stick in their memories. If you snarled or snapped
at someone – however much they deserved it at the time – that will be held
against you. You’re supposed to be bigger than that.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You, as a
manager, do need to learn from people’s actions and reactions what works and
what doesn’t. So your SWOT analysis should be built on your assessment of the
dynamics in your workplace relationships.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What is it that
is most and least effective in the way you handle yourself and your
interchanges with people? That’s the SW of SWOT: Strengths and weaknesses.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>What are the
circumstances that are most and least favorable to getting things done in your
management realm? That’s the OT sector – opportunities and threats. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The good manager</b> will be alert to the
constant flow of signals and suggestions in the surrounding circumstances and
relationships. This is the outward-facing complement to self-awareness, and it
constitutes the greater field in which the manager acts.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While moral and
ethical issues are inviolable, most of what the manager deals with and must do
is in the arena of decisions, tactics and relationships. You’re surrounded by
choices.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The manager must
never forget that the essence of the job is getting things done through other
people. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your directions
must not only account for the necessary actions and desired results. If you are
to be fully effective, you have to know your people, understand and respond to
their interests, needs and motivations.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You must make
your leadership and support present to them. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Don, Burt, Cove
and Dick each had a piece of all that. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can have it
all.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">TRY THIS: Think over
your management behavior, and sort out why you think and behave as you do. Make sure the basics are really your own. Tinker.
Then track what works and what doesn’t in the workplace.<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SEE ALSO: Project Attitude<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>http://jimmillikenproject.blogspot.com/2014/12/project-attitude.html#more<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-43830820806012176222018-11-19T12:17:00.000-05:002019-06-18T13:12:31.222-04:00Bungling the Branding<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<div class="MsoNormal">
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtophJH4-BGUoGJVjbXjytOVlVjiP0vphH3kVFp70NWpnxIbvuBFh1O205Jfwivxi6OGROlHQcksiG6ZNccgABrpYcPtKfyAUP3dOV6EKTPh0bDAseOFTy2NtJOCTJ_nvNmBE-C6qXHVPM/s1600/brand423.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="370" data-original-width="423" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjtophJH4-BGUoGJVjbXjytOVlVjiP0vphH3kVFp70NWpnxIbvuBFh1O205Jfwivxi6OGROlHQcksiG6ZNccgABrpYcPtKfyAUP3dOV6EKTPh0bDAseOFTy2NtJOCTJ_nvNmBE-C6qXHVPM/s320/brand423.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
What you call something
matters. It can matter a lot.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“We don’t have time to help you build your
monument to yourself,” they told the project manager.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
“Monument to
yourself” is a brand, and not a good one. A brand establishes an identity; attitudes
and assumptions gather around it. Organizations spend a lot of time, thought,
money and effort to establish and maintain their brands.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The “monument”
brand is an example of what happens when you don’t make the effort. It
influenced the attitude of the news staff of a small daily newspaper. Their managing
editor had been tasked with managing the newsroom’s work on a special edition. <br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Since the edition
was his ego trip, they reasoned, why should they extend extra effort to
accomplish it?<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The occasion was
the upcoming 150<sup>th</sup> anniversary of the newspaper, a proud moment that
the general manager saw as an opportunity to burnish the paper’s image –and
sell a lot of extra advertising.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The business
community apparently agreed with him, because the project attracted a lot of
ads – assisted by sales bonuses for the ad staff.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>The managing editor/project manager, </b>on
the other hand, saw the whole thing as simply another task. A big one, but
otherwise not special. Not a monument – just part of the work. There were no
bonuses for the writers, photographers and artists. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
From this point
of view, you just do the job. If you want to put in time and talent for the
love of it, fine. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Putting a brand
on it would make it special, a project. A project, managed properly, identifies
such needs as branding and promotion . . . and it deals effectively with the
unexpected.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
That’s where the
“monument” tag came in. The unexpected happened, to a remarkable degree, but
the managing editor just grimly soldiered on in his task orientation. As the ad
sales escalated to eye-popping heights, the corresponding “news” space did the
same. For the editor, nothing changed but the workload.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The
special section, originally planned for 24 pages, ballooned to 180+ in the run-up
to publication. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There would have
to be advance printings, because the press could not accommodate the total 212
pages of the final edition.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>That meant there would be</b> extensive
overtime work for the production and press crews, and extra workers for each
early run, to stack the accumulating copies in storage. And then, of course,
there would be a massive effort on the day of publication to put it all
together, get it out the door and deliver/sell the 2½-pound product.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The challenges
presented by all this were accommodated with relative comfort by three of the
departments involved: Advertising, Circulation and Production. Besides the ad
sales bonuses, there was overtime pay for the extra work.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Not so the News
Department. The managing editor made a couple of arrangements in response to a
perception that this job might carry some extra demands. He lined up some
retirees to write remembrances of the old days. He assigned feature stories and
lots of photos. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The editor also
designed a standard 12-page section, based on the standard of a 50-50 split
between paid space and nonpaid, the latter being his responsibility. As each
12-page unit was completed, it could be closed and scheduled for a press run.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>That was it, in terms</b> of planning and
organization. It turned out to be woefully inadequate. This was a project, but
nobody knew anything about such a thing as Project Management – especially the
guy managing this effort.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
He had six
months’ notice, with a final deadline date in early March. The time span turned
out to be an early source of serious friction.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
To daily
newspaper people throughout the building, getting the paper out<i> today</i> is demanding enough – what the
blank are you doing bugging us for stories, photos and ideas for something <i>that won’t come out for <b>six months</b></i><b>?</b> <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There was serious
disruption of normal news coverage, plus ill will that lingered for a long
time. For the newspeople, the only explanation for such idiocy was the ego of
the guy who was hounding them for extra material.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was the
editor’s first real experience with the impossibility of creating artificial
urgency in the perception of people who live by 24-hour or one-week cycles.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>The idea of the 12-page model</b> was that
ads would be directed to one section until it was filled, at which point it
would be moved on to Production and they would start on the second. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
For the editor,
this was how to do this kind of work. It turned out to be NOT the way to do it
when the string of sections grew by a factor of 13 or 14. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It was hell, and the
result was well short of the original possibilities. It succeeded only through
the incessant efforts of the driven guy in charge. That’s where the “monument”
thing came from.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
The lessons to be
drawn<b> </b>from the experience are not
many, but they are basic to the management of any innovation or unfamiliar
effort.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>First,</b> develop reliable agreements
among the decision-makers. The general manager and the managing editor should
have worked out clear understandings up front, and accompanied them with real
commitments. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
A project plan,
say.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
There should have
been continuing communication and collaboration among the leaders throughout
the project, beginning at the very beginning. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Second,</b> establish a clear understanding
of what it is the newspaper was doing, and why. For parts that didn’t have reliable
information, establish risk management practices. That would have detected and
accounted for the unexpected success of the sales effort.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Promote it
consistently throughout the building. Make everyone proud, and equip them with
the information to spread the word.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>Third,</b> determine what it will take to
meet the challenges. That would have led to provision of adequate overtime
funding for writers and photographers, plus the hiring of enough free-lancers
to get the job done without all the damage. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
It would have been
costly, but then a lot of money was flowing in.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b>The special edition</b> was indeed a
monument – to the entire organization and all its members. Too bad it wasn’t treated that way. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Branding, we call
it today. </div>
</div>
<br />
TELL US ABOUT: The last time you discovered yourself in the middle of a project before you realized it WAS a project.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SEE ALSO: Well, It Hit the Fan. Now What?<br />
https://jimmillikenproject.blogspot.com/2011/</div>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="narrative" style="box-sizing: border-box; font-family: "Helvetica Neue", Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; padding: 15px 0px; visibility: visible;">
<ol class="notes" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; color: #aaaaaa; font-size: 10px; line-height: 14px; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 3px 0px; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible;">
<li class="ng-scope" ng-class="{'dismissed': maneuver.dismissed}" ng-repeat="maneuver in ::leg.maneuvers" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 60px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible;"><div class="dashed-hr ng-scope" ng-class="{'hidden-print': maneuver.dismissed}" ng-if="maneuver.distance > 0" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #677f00; font-size: 10px; font-weight: 700; line-height: 35px; position: relative; visibility: visible;">
<br /></div>
</li>
<li class="ng-scope" ng-class="{'dismissed': maneuver.dismissed}" ng-repeat="maneuver in ::leg.maneuvers" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px; min-height: 60px; padding: 0px; position: relative; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible;"><div class="maneuver" ng-class="{'hidden-print': maneuver.dismissed}" style="box-sizing: border-box; margin-left: 30px; visibility: visible;">
</div>
</li>
<li class="ng-scope" ng-repeat="maneuverNote in ::maneuver.maneuverNotes" style="border: 0px; box-sizing: border-box; list-style: none; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; vertical-align: baseline; visibility: visible;"><div>
<span class="note" style="box-sizing: border-box; visibility: visible;"><br /></span></div>
</li>
</ol>
</div>
jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-47608155343587034822018-09-30T17:47:00.000-04:002018-10-09T19:15:45.704-04:00The Default Fault<o:p> </o:p> On the foggy back
side of the Comfort Zone, the population of defaulted projects grows by the
day. Defaulted projects are the ghosts of those formerly promising intentions
that slid backwards from their Project Plans into mediocrity or worse. Execution
did ‘em in.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So implementation
is what matters? We should forget planning and just launch straight into action,
right? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Wrong.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This whole issue
of how to manage planning-execution is an essential matter in Project
Management, and handling it successfully is a secret of project success. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There is an apparent contradiction
involved: As General Eisenhower said, “Plans are nothing; planning is
everything.” He endorsed the process, but was deeply suspicious of its product.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Here’s what I
think he meant: Plan as if every detail must be permanently nailed down in
advance – then execute as if every element of the plan is wide open to
amendment or reversal on the fly. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The key to the conundrum</b> is
understanding how the planning process affects human expectations, and
therefore underlies managers’ behavior during the unfolding of a truly
meaningful project.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you planned
well, you are solidly planted when change becomes necessary. You know why
you’re where you are, and how you got there. Your responsive action in the new
situation then is confident rather than wobbly and rootless.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In fact, every
good plan makes its parts sufficiently specific that the manager is enabled to
choose wisely among the elements for the right ones to change and how to do so.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Otherwise, faced
with strange and challenging situations, we default to what is familiar and
nonthreatening. We wrap ourselves up in the famed comfort zone.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The results are familiar:
Cost overruns, blown schedules and disappointing outcomes. Basically, multiple
defaults from what we intended. If we’re more than 10 percent off on any one of
them, I consider it a management failure.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">This is the Default Fault</b>.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It frequently results
from fuzzy management, which itself often starts with imprecise definitions. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>For example,
what’s a “project”? If a group activity isn’t strange and challenging, I don’t favor
calling it a “project.” It’s a “process,” a distinctly different animal.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A process is a
series of sequentially-dependent steps which, done properly, assure a
predetermined outcome. Such an activity rewards repetition, with close
attention to reducing variance in any of the steps. Most of what we do is like
that.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A project,
instead, is unusual. It is characterized by uncertainty, unfamiliarity, complexity,
risk and dependency upon factors you don’t control. It requires innovation and
careful advance into the unknown.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One of its more
devilish characteristics is that the typical project includes a number of known
processes as well as true project elements. That reality can lure the unwary
project manager into inattention, unprepared for the inevitable slide into
unfamiliar territory. Default Fault again.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I’m probably in a minority</b> on this,
judging from the literature of the project profession and from the talk of
most working professionals. They don’t seem concerned about complexity,
uncertainty and risk. I see too much simple reliance on the standard tools. There
is a lack of awareness that the frequent project shortfalls are not inevitable –
but result from careless development and unthinking execution of plans.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Clear concepts and complete definitions would
produce better planning, crisper direction, less waste and stronger results. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A big weakness of
the popular viewpoint is its failure to account for the fact that RISK is the
central fact of projects, and therefore the major factor in Project Management.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Risk is the
possibility that something will go wrong or not work, Risk management is the organized process of identifying and accounting for
anything that could open up that possibility. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Risk management</b> should dictate the
actions of the project manager at the very inception of project planning and
organization. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Where and when is
that? <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
While the organization's management may have developed specific intentions earlier, project management starts when the project manager is appointed. At that point, the manager's first questions must be raised and the answers researched. The results should then be built into the fundamentals of the project.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
Some of those questions
are:</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Why does the
organization want this project? How – specifically – do the organization’s
decision makers define the goal? What – again specifically – do they plan to
invest in the effort? What do they expect as a return on that investment? How
do they define the role of the project manager? And so on.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The first default
fault is planted in a project when this kind of thorough exchange is skipped or
glossed over, and when something like it doesn’t produce a full mutual
understanding between the sponsoring organization and the project manager. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">I can’t count</b> the number of projects I
have witnessed – indeed, worked on early in my career – that suffered from this
default.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The anti-default
approach must be applied throughout the planning, preparation and conduct of
the project. Everything is thoroughly researched, specified, tracked and
guided. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The project
manager and the designated sponsoring executives negotiate it all and record it
all, including assumptions, performance metrics, variances and plans for in-process correction.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span> There are no defaults
to low-quality substitute project results. There are backup actions built into
the plan, legitimately residing in the comfort zone.</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<br />jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-47529139315393207312018-09-12T18:07:00.001-04:002018-09-23T13:18:11.155-04:00What Do You Mean, "Done?"<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 13pt;">What do you mean, “Done”?</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s obvious to you what “done” is. It’s
also obvious to me.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: 13.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Problem One:</b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your “done” is
different from mine. <br />
<a name='more'></a> We have two different understandings, but each of us thought
everybody has the same one, the one I have.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>No necessarily
so. What’s “obvious” to each of us can be a highly personal, built over long
experience that was not shared by the other person<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We don’t even
think about such things, until we’re surprised when one of us says, “What do
you mean, ‘Done? You didn’t do (whatever).” <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To which the
typical reply is, “Why should I do that? It’s not part of this piece.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Followed by, “Of
course it is. How could it not be?”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And so on.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not unusual that the gap goes undetected
– or ignored – until we have gone our separate ways long enough to cause costly
and/or permanent damage. The effects on team cohesion and collaboration can be
just as serious as the damage to the project itself.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Problem
Two:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>On each of the multiple paths through a
project network, there is no way expectations established in the original planning
phase will remain unchanged once execution is under way.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the effort is
truly a project, it includes unfamiliar parts that must be handled with
speculative estimates. However carefully such plans are developed in the
beginning, the effects will not completely match expectations.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Decisions are made to meet the small and large
variances that inevitably show up. The accumulation of those decisions
gradually changes the direction and outcome on each path, often without the
team members noticing the extent of what’s happening. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Since the
partners don’t pay much attention to the minor variances as they arise and are
dealt with, the results and effects often aren’t tracked and properly reported.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Different paths diverge
from their original tracks, while unwary planners hustle along their own
shifting ways, expecting activity junctions that now can’t happen. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Problem Three:<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>The solution, of course, to get the
change information to affected teammates so they can adjust. But there’s more. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The change at
your end must not be allowed to mess up other parts of the project, in ways you
have no way of knowing on your own. So, the leaders of other work packages will
need to be involved, as – of course – will the project manager.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The familiar
statistics of project shortfall and failure result in no small part from this
reality of uncoordinated change. Communication continues to bedevil project
managers because it demands focus . . . at the same time equal focus must be
applied to the many other complex and pressing matters within the project
manager’s responsibility.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Estimates must be
tracked and adjusted; team members and collaborators require direction,
responses, solutions; <span style="mso-no-proof: yes;">sponsors must be informed
and consulted. Each of these classes of stakeholder requires different
information and a different relationship, and none of it can be handled on
autopilot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Communication tends to fare poorly</b> is
this environment. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s easy to put
off taking time to talk and listen, to inform parties not close at hand, and to
detect and overcome barriers. Other challenges are in your face, but everyday
communication needs are unobtrusive.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When failure
becomes urgent, it often is in some kind of explosion that derails the process,
at least temporarily, and it always results in permanent damage. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Perhaps more
often, failure of this vital function ruins projects by quietly eroding the
quality of the work and the ability of the team members and other stakeholders
to collaborate.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A most insidious
characteristic of the communication challenge is this: Time and attention
devoted to developing, disseminating and digesting information is time taken
away from the work, and vice versa. One category of management performance
always diminishes the quality of our attention to the other.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">What can project managers do</b> about
this?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>While much of the
work requires dealing with sudden and unexpected priorities, communication
always will be with us. It is the area of distraction that can be tamed.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How? Tools.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Much of the
information that must be communicated is in predictable areas, and in definable
categories. With careful planning, fill-in-the-blanks formats save enormous
amounts of time and speed accurate information along established channels.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Project
Management universe has countless ways of organizing projects and equally diverse
means of communication. Some of the methods and instruments are useful, but too
many are complicated and imprecise. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One frequent
design error is to cram too many purposes into a tool. An example is the
Project Charter, or whatever tool establishes the foundation of the project.
Too often, the charter is cluttered with to-do stuff that obscures the clarity
of the basic purpose of the project.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A
project charter,</b> whatever it is called, should be limited to essentials
that will remain available for reference throughout the life of the project.
Major changes along the way must be added, but not the nuts and bolts of
execution.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The charter
essentially expresses the organization’s intentions in establishing and
directing the project. The charter should:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-tab-count: 1;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 6.0pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpFirst" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Establish the clear, concrete outcome the effort
is to achieve;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Identify the sponsoring organization’s strategic
goals the project is <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
Supporting, and the desired return o2n investment;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l0 level1 lfo2; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Include major risks, barriers and resources that
can be identified at this point.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Name the specific organization executives who
are sponsoring the project, <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
controlling its direction and resources, and advocating for it within the
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
sponsoring executive ranks;<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Specify the resource organizations, internal and
external, that are <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpMiddle" style="margin-left: 1.0in; mso-add-space: auto;">
committed to the success of the project.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoListParagraphCxSpLast" style="mso-list: l1 level1 lfo1; text-indent: -.25in;">
<!--[if !supportLists]--><span style="font-family: "symbol"; mso-bidi-font-family: Symbol; mso-fareast-font-family: Symbol;"><span style="mso-list: Ignore;">·<span style="font: 7.0pt "Times New Roman";">
</span></span></span><!--[endif]-->Include other information the sponsor considers
pertinent to this project. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Operational tools
then are built upon the Project Plan in a hierarchy of increasing detail:<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A Work Breakdown Structure</b> then
granulates the Project Goal into <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>first,</b> categories of<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>activity (such as research, marketing,
construction) that <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>will be <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>required to achieve the Goal; and, <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>second,</b> the mini-goals
for work packages that will be necessary to fulfill the <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-left: .5in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></b>needs in <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>each category.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Work Package Specifications</b>, which
detail the activities, schedules, assignments, <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A Project Schedule,</b> which is built
from the Work Package Specifications.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Risk Management Reports,</b> tracking the
progress of efforts to avoid or mitigate <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>threats
to the project.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such ordering of
intentions, ongoing project activities and results falls naturally into
formats, reusable in successive projects and improvable as part of
lessons-learned sessions.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also clarifies
definitions and specifies requirements, makes “status meetings” much more
targeted and useful, and supports productive collaboration.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In sum, the whole
journey from “T0-D0” to “Done” is obvious to everybody, and the same for all.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>--<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>--<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>SEE ALSO:<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">When the Buck Never Stops<o:p></o:p></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 10.0pt; line-height: 107%;">http://jimmillikenproject.<span class="MsoHyperlink"><a href="http://jimmillikenproject.blogspot.com/2016/11/when-buck-never-stops.html">When
the Buck Never Stops</a></span>.com/2016/11/when-buck-never-stops.html<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
--<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Question:</b> Is
there a communication process that is both efficient and effective for Project
Management? You’re welcome to offer your ideas and experiences in the comments
below.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<br />jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-26148571518748260662018-07-22T14:21:00.000-04:002018-07-23T08:29:10.038-04:00Everybody's Got a Manager<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12pt;">Danny Amendola just moved from a consistently
winning team to an occasional also-ran, and he couldn’t be happier.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Amendola was a star performer on a New
England Patriots football team that won the league championship two years ago
and made it to the Super Bowl again last year. Now he has just gone to the
Miami Dolphins, winless in their three trips to the playoffs in the past decade.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;">
</span>Amendola is a poster boy for the saying, “People don’t leave
organizations – they leave managers.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This
week, the Associated Press quoted him gushing about his new coach, Adam Gase:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“It’s almost like Coach Gase is one of the
guys, one of the boys and you wanna fight hard for your boys. Back in New
England it’s almost like you got a principal and a principal’s office . . . you
know, in a good way and in a bad way, too.”</span><br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBxaz4D0cZkcFh8LzDsF6FwnyZnknrOx_GaSo3G2QuBK3gDVlAZ01_zJy7qdDx9TxzleZ3uXrsYrjLz9acfP7H9rsy_adutzIftKSOq0Z63vj3hfD6DZGtyXO9tu0PxPHph0MUe3FBiyax/s1600/Blog18-10.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="225" data-original-width="477" height="187" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBxaz4D0cZkcFh8LzDsF6FwnyZnknrOx_GaSo3G2QuBK3gDVlAZ01_zJy7qdDx9TxzleZ3uXrsYrjLz9acfP7H9rsy_adutzIftKSOq0Z63vj3hfD6DZGtyXO9tu0PxPHph0MUe3FBiyax/s400/Blog18-10.png" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">New
England’s “principal,”</b> Head Coach Bill Belichick, has won five Super Bowls
since his arrival in 2000, and his team is always in the front rank of league
winners. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>He has plenty of fans. Veteran linebacker
James Harrison joined the Patriots last midseason after a messy end to his
longtime tenure with the Pittsburgh Steelers. In a television interview, he
compared Steelers Head Coach Mike Tomlin unfavorably to Belichick:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="p-text" style="background: #FAFAFA; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">"Mike Tomlin's
good as a head coach," said Harrison. "He's a player's coach. I
think he needs to be a little bit more disciplined.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="p-text" style="background: #FAFAFA; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>"The big thing with Belichick is he's
very regimented, he's disciplined. Everyone is going to be on the same page.
It's not going to be anything as far as someone doing their own thing."<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="p-text" style="background: #FAFAFA; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You have to allow for Harrison’s
subjectivity, of course, considering the circumstances. His admiration for the
new place/guy has to arise in some degree from his sour feelings about the
previous situation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="p-text" style="background: #FAFAFA; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="p-text" style="background: #FAFAFA; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">But don’t
discount subjectivity. </b>It has everything to do with commitment. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="p-text" style="background: #FAFAFA; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When people consider something highly
important, they are capable of devoting themselves to it. That is, they are
motivated to act on it and stick with it – fulfill a commitment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="p-text" style="background: #FAFAFA; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Football at the professional level calls for
exceptional talent and skill, but there must be equal determination and effort.
It demands very immediate, very personal and very physical actions in direct
competition with strong, determined, skilled opponents.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="p-text" style="background: #FAFAFA; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Newcomers to the Patriots have often
remarked upon the unswerving focus of the organization and the remarkable
discipline of players like perennial MVP Tom Brady.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="p-text" style="background: #FAFAFA; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But lately there have been stirrings of
discontent, including talk that all is not well between Brady and Belichick.
The coach’s string of excellence began with Brady’s accession to the
quarterback position, but there is word that Belichick’s iron rule is no longer
OK with his hitherto supportive star player. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="p-text" style="background: #FAFAFA; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Brady denies that, and Harrison says he
saw no sign of friction when he arrived in the locker room curious to see what
the atmosphere was.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="p-text" style="background: #FAFAFA; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="p-text" style="background: #FAFAFA; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Still, there have
been</span></b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">
decisions that reportedly caused friction between Belichick and team owner
Robert Kraft. Some stars have unexpectedly been traded, and some, like Amendola
and, earlier, Wes Welker, have moved on voluntarily, making no secret that
Belichick was their reason for leaving.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>I, like everyone who opines about
management, have written my share of pieces about the specifics of the skill
set, particularly the observable markers of a good manager: Fairness, decision
making, active listening, etc.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you do all those things well – or at
least acceptably – people will work for you, and you will earn results that
should guarantee your security in the position.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But I’ve come to understand that there’s a
nuanced and difficult challenge that may be the most important of all:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Do your decisions and your manner create a
working atmosphere in which the kind of people you need are inspired to commit
themselves to excellence? Every senior manager does it differently, so all
workplaces are different. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It takes a certain kind of person to
thrive under a manager like Bill Belichick. That certainly has been true for
Brady, but he skipped voluntary offseason workouts this year. The Patriots
reportedly have taken team access privileges away from Alex Guerrero, Brady’s trainer
and business partner.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Every
manager has a manager </span></b><span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">– ideally, someone empowered and obligated to monitor,
evaluate and affect that manager’s performance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not frivolous. Over the decades, I
have worked under managers who were lovable incompetents, and there have been grim
overachievers. Mostly, real commitment was up to me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With the Patriots, everybody knows who’s
the boss, and you’d better be sure you’re clear on what the boss wants. You all
answer to Bill Belichick, and he answers to Robert Kraft.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And Kraft? He has uncounted thousands of
decision makers to answer to, the Patriots fans. They are knowledgeable – and
vocal – about anything related to the team. What do they want? Lots, but very
clearly one thing: A winner. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So far so good, Robert. Good luck with it.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">HAVE YOUR SAY: How do you rate the managers of your experience?</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif; font-size: 12.0pt;">SEE ALSO: <b>Good Leader: Why?</b></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , serif;">https://jimmillikenproject.blogspot.com/2013/06/act-leader.html</span></div>
<br />jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-36488191992669890782018-06-24T11:28:00.001-04:002018-07-17T11:21:38.460-04:00The Hardest Part of Project Management<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> What’s the single most difficult thing about the
project manager’s job?</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> I know, I know: There are so many
problems, especially the unpredictable ones, that it seems a worthless exercise
to try isolating the single worst. Those devilish items take turns being the
worst, often with head-spinning rapidity.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> The specifics can include, but most
definitely are not limited to:</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOkMlgk9W7kIgWae0R8a_NKtJ48APD0HtrKj-zZJtwIpqTiOkZtSKIFNc48JHUroe0UyxvLHYf2j6B12HDPSYXQw9r2uvj_HR99CS0plrHAcQnJrvLG9_L7AhwWmfWtT1ydRwuwAOwm5WO/s1600/SunsetBlogImage.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOkMlgk9W7kIgWae0R8a_NKtJ48APD0HtrKj-zZJtwIpqTiOkZtSKIFNc48JHUroe0UyxvLHYf2j6B12HDPSYXQw9r2uvj_HR99CS0plrHAcQnJrvLG9_L7AhwWmfWtT1ydRwuwAOwm5WO/s320/SunsetBlogImage.jpg" /></a><b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> Insufficient time</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <b>Scope creep</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <b>Fuzzy expe</b><b>ctations</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> . . .
often unexpressed and/or unknown to those who have them<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <b>Abrupt changes</b> in
organizational priorities<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <b>Lack of assured</b> project
resources<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <b>Team members</b> who won’t
make commitments<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> . . . or
won’t keep the commitments they’ve made<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <b>Managers who block</b> or
limit team members’ participation<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <b>Lack of insights</b> from
project end users<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> And these things gang up on you, in
combinations that also can morph so often it’s an extra challenge just to keep
track of them.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> But you’re the project manager, and
you have to act – decisively and effectively. Befuddlement is not an option.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> So you act right away. But not by
creating a project plan and recruiting a team. Not at this point.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <b>Your fundamental starting</b> <b>point</b> is
to create a logic for mastering the tangle in front of you. Something has to be
first, and it has to launch the process of control that underlies the entire
concept of management.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> That Step One is to get fully
informed on the specifics. What is this project all about? What are the
expectations of the person or persons who will be making the final decisions
about it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> If you can’t get really detailed,
concrete information from the ultimate decision maker, that’s your first
problem, and it’s a big one. It introduces a major risk and you’ve
got to deal with it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> The concept and initial expectations
may be incomplete, contradictory or impossible. Whatever they are, you don’t
argue or press overmuch for details that may not exist. Nor do you sit and
wring your hands.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> You get all you can, take careful
notes and promise a proposal within 24 hours.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> Your proposal is in the form of a
project plan, using the preliminary information as its basis. <i>If I
understand correctly, this is what you want me to do.</i><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> You carry it through to a logical
conclusion, including the staffing, financing and physical resources you
estimate it would take to turn out the desired result.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> However impossible that might be.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <b>The response is going to be</b> in
one of three forms:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">1.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 7pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">“This looks really good – let’s go ahead with
it.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">2.</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 7pt;"> </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">“You’re on the right path. Let’s do some work on this.”<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">3</span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif;">. </span><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">"This is terrible. What makes you think we
have all this time, all these resources, all <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; text-indent: -.25in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">
these people?"<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> If you get <i>Number 1,</i> congratulations
. . . but be careful. You’re not crazy enough to expect “let’s go ahead with
it” to REALLY means “let’s go ahead with it.” I used to jump ahead on that
basis back in my early days, often with painful results.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> What it really means is that the
manager is favorable, but a cautious, step-by-step advance is advised. You seek
frequent approvals until a solid favorable record has been established. With
trust and thorough communication, you can expect greater autonomy.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <i>Number 2</i> is quite
similar, but it often signals a tighter rein. Get as much detail as you can on
what the right path is, and what work is indicated. Do new detailed proposals
on relatively small portions of the plan, building on successive approvals. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <b><i>Number 3</i> is very good
news,</b> believe it or not. It signals that you have smoked out – at this
very early point – one of the deadliest devils of project management:
Unrealistic expectations at the top of the authority chain. Either little was thought
through or the decision-maker is making fatally rosy assumptions.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> Just think of those horror shows
that ensue when the project manager obediently proceeds to attempt the
impossible until . . .<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> Until the arrival of the
embarrassing, expensive disaster for which blame is to be assigned. The boss
may not excoriate you for failing to talk him/her out of the bad idea. By then,
more often than not, the boss decides it’s your bad management that’s at fault.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> So it is far better, far more professional,
to ignite the fire immediately. Right at the moment the situation becomes
clear.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> Remember, your proposal/plan was
thorough, based on your careful questioning of your manager. The situation,
assumptions, risks and project activities are all there in the concrete,
devised by you from what you got from the proposer, and in solid project
management form.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> So the investment estimates you
inserted follow in the same way. If the original idea included unrealistic
time, cost and activity estimates, your proposal deals with them respectfully
but honestly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> You’re careful not to enter your
opinions contesting the expectations – just facts and standard project
management estimates.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> <b>This difficult initial situation</b> represents
the most important challenge of all for you, the project manager. It tests
everything: Your professional knowledge, your management maturity, your
judgment, your abilities to negotiate and persuade.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> Your job may be on the line, and
possibly your career. Pull it off, and you’re a top performer. If instead you
have to go along, handle that properly. You will earn the respect of all
involved.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> Whatever happens, this situation
presents you with all the problems listed at the top of this commentary.
Treasure the moments when you’ve seen it handled well. Prepare yourself for the
times you’ll be called upon to do it yourself.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> It’s the hardest part of Project
Management.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">QUESTION for your comment:</span></b><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> What is your success rate in persuading decision-makers to
change unrealistic directives?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;">SEE ALSO: <b>Disengage Project Autopilot</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 13.5pt;"> https://jimmillikenproject.blogspot.com/2018/05/listen-up-disengage-project-autopilot.html</span> </span>jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-39710239775635216732018-05-30T14:02:00.000-04:002018-06-25T15:46:12.103-04:00Listen Up: Disengage Project Autopilot The guy had
rehearsed his sales presentation thoroughly and was well into it when his
prospect perked up and interrupted with a question.<br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“Be patient,” the
salesman said. “I’m only on my third point – I’ve got nine more to go.”<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Can you think of
a better way to kill off a sale?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A radically
different example comes out of the Cold War between the United States and the
former Soviet Union.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was in 1983, when
the two bitter adversaries had enormous nuclear armaments trained on each
other.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A software glitch mistakenly sent
an alert to the Soviet duty officer, falsely warning that the U.S. had launched
five missiles. There had been no such launch. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Soviet
officer decided any real attack would be a lot more serious, so he withheld any
counterattack. Had he acted, there could have been nuclear war.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>We project
managers can relate to the student sales example; not so the missile one. But
one factor in both illustrates a major point for us: the judgment of the
decision-maker. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">The sales presentation</b> actually was the
final exam in a college course on personal selling skills, and the “salesman”
was a star student.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It was the
culmination of a four-month student project, a personal one: starting from
scratch to overcome shyness and reluctance in presenting a sales message.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The student
had carefully prepared the presentation, following the prescribed design. Then he
practiced the skills of pitching it effectively. His final exam was this
15-minute meeting with the class instructor in which he was to demonstrate his
new expertise.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And he blew
it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>His
disciplined, carefully memorized process came up short in the most important
sales skill of all: Thoughtful listening. The prospect’s questions were a clear
signal that a potentially favorable opportunity had unexpectedly opened up. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The student,
unlike the military officer, missed the important moment. He thought he was
listening, but he really wasn’t. He was on autopilot. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With listening,
it isn’t just the ears.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Sure,
the ears do the mechanical job of capturing and channeling sounds. That’s
important, but it’s not the whole story. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Real listening</b> is in the brain: It
involves remaining alert, thoughtfully questioning what the sounds are telling
you. The student missed the thoughtful questioning part, the awareness that
should have accompanied his concentration on the plan. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That failure
not only caused him to miss an important opportunity; it also rebuffed a
positive initiative that could have opened a fruitful new path for the
conversation. It may have embarrassed and annoyed to the prospect – something
most definitely not favorable to the purpose.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The Soviet
duty officer, despite the enormous responsibility he bore – and the lack of any
reason to doubt the erroneous message – made a courageous decision.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever
communication channel carried the erroneous information to him, the mental
process he employed was the one the sales student failed to follow. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It also is the
one that confronts project managers, and is among the many reasons why projects
are so difficult to manage. A true project is a mixture of processes and
innovations.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">Processes require careful</b> <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">attention</b> to repetitious detail, so the
sequences hold together and the predetermined result is reliably achieved. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The innovation
elements in projects are entirely different, even though they often are closely
intermixed with the processes. When you sail along too confidently in the
familiar parts, you’re going to miss the warning signals.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you do that,
you’ll see error, misunderstandings, sour relationships and project shortfalls.
<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How can you
protect your projects against autopilot?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>One important way
is to build countermeasures into your risk management plan. Every work package
should include specific requirements for evidence showing that planned actions
were taken and measurable outcomes recorded.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It should be
standard practice for managers and supervisors to include such specifics in
assignments, instructions and evaluations. They should be carefully revisited
as each phase of the project is completed<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This should never
be routine in the sense that it is checked off on the way to a quick
conclusion. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s also good to
periodically brainstorm and speculate: <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>“What could go
wrong with this part of the project? What haven’t we thought of?”<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Conversations
like that should include various groups of people involved in the project,
especially those who don’t get directly involved in planning and directing.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In project management</b>, the famous
unknown unknowns should never become the unexpected unexpecteds. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">A Question for You: </b>When
have you seen serious consequences from autopilot behavior?<o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
SEE ALSO: <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><i style="mso-bidi-font-style: normal;">Project Attitude</i></b><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-size: 11.0pt;">http://jimmillikenproject.blogspot.com/2014/12/project-attitude.html<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></div>
<div class="MsoNoSpacing">
<br /></div>
<br />jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-60844112632560333242018-04-30T17:59:00.001-04:002023-03-23T12:16:35.020-04:00Ego, Confidence & the Manager<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5jnY7XgmMJiMpURjtgeTaZ6maoKlutNC1rQNvOYneKPqJSVSSQIk3MJAfzQE2EHVUKWCsrMajZ00xgsvgKeS6KMfpRjs6JLmeKiL2tl5eLSe7ir1tQcKFKBNXnAApwfSOClAqh1E-h08V/s1600/Blog-18-07a.png" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="252" data-original-width="275" height="181" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5jnY7XgmMJiMpURjtgeTaZ6maoKlutNC1rQNvOYneKPqJSVSSQIk3MJAfzQE2EHVUKWCsrMajZ00xgsvgKeS6KMfpRjs6JLmeKiL2tl5eLSe7ir1tQcKFKBNXnAApwfSOClAqh1E-h08V/s200/Blog-18-07a.png" width="200" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">The boss was a good-sized
man, good-looking in a fleshy sort of way. Had an assertive way of looking at
people around him, commanding his surroundings. A man to be paid attention to.</span><br />
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: left;">
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>But that manner exuded ego,
not confidence. Here is a case in point:</span><br />
<br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<h1 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The office boy was
distributing the mail that had just come in, working his way from the doorway
in. The boss came out of his corner office, and made no secret of his
displeasure that the kid’s delivery route had not begun at that corner office.</span></h1>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The kid, embarrassed at
being dressed down in front of everybody, blurted out what he may have thought
was a joke: “Oh, I always start with the important people around here.” The man
exploded. “I ought to knock you through that window!” he said angrily.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The outburst, was typical of
the man. People who knew him better would never have been so flip. You needed
to be respectful – make that obsequious – if you wanted to stay out of the line
of fire. No matter what the boss did.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This ego-vs.-confidence
matter is not trivial. When management is not good, you often find it’s because
there is more ego than confidence in the behavior of the person who exercises
authority in that place.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When ego dominates, you have
an unhappy and failing workplace. When management is really confident, it
doesn’t guarantee a successful place to work, but the possibilities
dramatically improve.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Ego and confidence are not
opposites. Both reside within the person, and both contribute to the person’s
self-esteem. But they have very different sources – and they produce radically
different attitudes and behaviors.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>How do you feel about
yourself, your worth? This is your ego at work. It’s often referred to as
self-esteem, and it’s an emotional state. Emotion makes for a shifting attitude,
and frequently is dependent upon outside factors – such as how people treat
you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If you’re the boss, say, and
you’re covering for low self-esteem, you are hypersensitive to anything that
might expose your painful secret. You deepdown don’t think you’re really
worthy, and you’re terrified people will find out. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your fear is always very
close to defensive anger. Any potential threat triggers an overreaction.<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such as an office boy not
showing the proper level of respect.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span></span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Not so for</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">
the self-confident manager. Of course there is ego there, and you can’t be a
good manager without a substantial level of self-esteem. But the source of
confident</span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">self-esteem is entirely
different from that of the uptight manager. </span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Yours, if you’re
self-confident, produces a much different attitude and it drives radically
different behavior.</span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is because true self-confidence
is belief in one’s abilities built on conscious development of those abilities.
People who build their workstyle this way devote themselves to investing effort
until it is objectively true that they have mastered whatever result or skill it
is. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Their self-confidence is
evidence-based, and much more resistant to outside influence. They don’t wrap
themselves in a pretense that they were born with these abilities. People who
do that have sentenced themselves to a life of self-deception and paralyzing
worry. They can be egotistical, but they’re not confident.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The confident boss has no
secret fears to hide, and can be much more open and flexible in<span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>relationships and interactions. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It wouldn’t bother her that
the office boy didn’t deliver her mail first. If the kid made some stupid
crack, the manager might have a mild joke in response, or maybe just a chuckle.
It was a passing irrelevancy, not a painful disruption.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If she wanted a different
process for the mail. She would arrange it. Quietly and professionally.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In Abraham Maslow’s
Hierarchy of Needs, the bottom level of the pyramid is fear for survival. Low-confidence
managers have a constant anxiety akin to that, and it can be severe. It blocks
them from their knowledge and imagination, keeping them from employing their
true potential.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>When you’re more open and
honest with yourself, you become less needy. You move up the pyramid. Somewhere
around the third/fourth level, you’re feeling okay about yourself because you’re in a
good place and getting respect from those around you.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Once you get to that point,
your self-esteem is solid, your confidence is growing and you are tapping into your
real possibilities, mining your accumulated knowledge and experience. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>New futures start to bloom
for you. You’re much more interesting, you’re more interested in others, more
considerate and pleasant to be around.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a manager, you are
flexible, understanding, forgiving, in possession of the long view. You can
listen, suggest, advise with the other person’s realities and needs in the
front of your mind. You are serene in your place. You can handle anything.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You’re confident.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
</div>
jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-71889355989052635892018-04-14T16:32:00.002-04:002023-06-07T18:20:39.953-04:00Management Power, Management Behavior<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin1-YvbewYpCqby98ubJayJAT0c37_WYLp-AgiccRgzm5a-1bDx6yZszIYRtVxAl3ISA4qj0Yj8_rGkQRwIzUf-CqC9HSdPJzqwROocq2M-WYvzc9rIsg6Gl_mt_41m_xe3fPzUK-JWVSw/s1600/Blog18.6a-600.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="380" data-original-width="600" height="252" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEin1-YvbewYpCqby98ubJayJAT0c37_WYLp-AgiccRgzm5a-1bDx6yZszIYRtVxAl3ISA4qj0Yj8_rGkQRwIzUf-CqC9HSdPJzqwROocq2M-WYvzc9rIsg6Gl_mt_41m_xe3fPzUK-JWVSw/s400/Blog18.6a-600.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt;">“You can’t run this place by
committee.”</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That was the corporate
president, responding to a division manager. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The manager, one month into
his first job at this level, had just described how he had directed the
department heads to prepare for him “blue sky” budget proposals. The idea was
to include in early budget planning a look to the future – what the department
manager envisioned as investments for growth over the succeeding few years.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The president was not
persuaded by the idea. He preferred a more-decisive, less-shared approach. The new division manager lost the job a few months
later, returned to his previous position as a supervisor and soon left the
company.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A successor, more in the
authoritative mold of the president, lasted a year before being flat-out fired.
His peremptory style had resulted in unionization of every unit in the
division. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b> In another situation</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;">, a
school district is going through a long period of turmoil because of the
superintendent’s abrupt, one-way actions at a time of change and stress. A
citizens' group has submitted petitions for a recall election of three school
board members, including the chairman. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The group wants the
superintendent fired.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The teachers' union is
complaining publicly about significant changes in policy and practice that have
been imposed without consultation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>A governor is about to
complete eight years in office, a period pockmarked with ugly disagreements and
stalled progress. The man has a take-or-leave it style, along with a habit of
unbridled verbal abuse of anyone who disagrees with him.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So here’s a question for
you: How do you manage? More basically, what do you see as a manager’s basic
responsibility? And based on that, what pattern of behavior do you consider
appropriate for a manager?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="font-weight: normal;"> </span><b>Strong decision-making</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"> was
the key factor in each of the situations noted above. There is no question that
a manager must be decisive. There is a real question, though, about how the manager’s
decisions are arrived at and how they are framed and delivered. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The popular admiration for fast
decision-making often is misplaced. Good managers don’t stall under pressure,
but they shoot from the hip only when their seasoned judgment equips them with sufficient
assurance. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>More often, their first
response is inquiry: What is going on here? What do I need to know in order to
make a sound judgment? Who has the information, or where is it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>With practice, the inquiry
doesn’t have to take long. The seasoned manager knows just what questions to
ask, and just how much to rely on incomplete information in the answers. <span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Some questions are absolutely required in
any management situation. Those are the ones that clarify the circumstances,
determine what has happened and develop or reveal options for decision.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <b> Less fundamental questions</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;">
serve a variety of purposes. Some are asked to gauge the capacity of people to
handle challenges on their own, or to determine the nature and extent of backup
or assistance they might need. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>There also are questions
whose real purpose is to guide the thinking of the people being asked.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That touches on the most
fundamental function of the role of management. Most managers occupy positions
that intermingle functional responsibilities – producing individual work
results – with the practice of pure management. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="font-weight: normal;">For that
reason, real management often is obscured, and equally often is impeded, by the
person’s need to regularly engage in non-management activities. <o:p></o:p></span></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>As a matter of fact, many
people with management responsibilities don’t do them well because their other
work has prevented them from learning true management in the first place. They
may never really progress beyond that point through their careers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>That is because the real job
of management can easily get lost in the busy work of daily problem-solving and
decision-making. You can be occupied in useful activities full-time
without ever rising above the middle level of managerial accomplishment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"> <b> Real
managemen</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; line-height: 115%;"><b>t</b></span><span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"> is in the careful development of the much more basic structures and
practices that underlie all success in the workplace.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s in two related areas: <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>First: Establishing and
maintaining workplace processes that set up good people to do good work.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Second: Training and
supervising people to use the processes most effectively.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>So the competent manager has
analytical and organizational skills as well as those of communication,
collaboration and leadership. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It’s not an easy job, which
is why we don’t see it done well frequently enough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The poor management
displayed in the opening examples can arise from one or more failings, but the
over-all syndrome is a mixture of impatience and the distortion of authority by
ego. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Such a manager sometimes has
a good personal grasp of the work, but can’t empathize with those who, for
whatever reason, don’t match the manager’s skill level. Sometimes it’s a
overinflated sense of self-importance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Whatever the source, the
behaviors are counter to good management. They damage and diminish the
productivity of people treated that way. Skills development and problem solving
suffer. Turnover is high. Costs go up.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Authority is the child of
responsibility. The manager who understands that is more builder than director,
and applies authority accordingly.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><br /></span>
YOUR TAKE: Describe your favored form of management, and the behaviors that result from it.<br />
<h3>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 14pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;">SEE ALSO: </span><span style="font-size: 14pt; line-height: 115%;">Building Alliances</span><span style="font-weight: normal;"><br />
</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;">http://jimmillikenproject.blogspot.com/2009/05/building-alliances.html</span><span style="font-size: 11pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</h3>
</div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12pt; font-weight: normal; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<br />jimmillikenproject.blogspot.comhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00301120899000641882noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2620484042360300862.post-62068230202097581032018-03-25T16:04:00.000-04:002018-09-28T16:58:28.689-04:00Patience, Tolerance & Management<span style="font-size: 12pt;"> </span><span style="font-size: 12pt;">Promotion to management can be tough – on
everybody, but particularly on the person honored by the elevation.</span><br />
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Exceptions are when the new manager has had actual management training before moving up, or has benefited from the gift
of competent mentorship. If the mentoring continues after the promotion, the
value is multiplied.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The great majority of entrants into
management aren’t so lucky. They arrive unprepared in this strange new place,
and some of them never really recover. Look around you. How many of the
managers you encounter actually perform the work well?</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtUp3aLGrf5fohJ-vTvPndFsifbO0zrC8h2NdPdToUKfcaRVzh2Uw3V258bN7k4yohPAcPwy8cBgppLKEGgO_5V90YjGzlPkjrr0E0A2KAVPfwzm9FOgZVXkzVSFucuKeHgucSVKthvbaA/s1600/Blog18.05.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="253" data-original-width="607" height="166" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtUp3aLGrf5fohJ-vTvPndFsifbO0zrC8h2NdPdToUKfcaRVzh2Uw3V258bN7k4yohPAcPwy8cBgppLKEGgO_5V90YjGzlPkjrr0E0A2KAVPfwzm9FOgZVXkzVSFucuKeHgucSVKthvbaA/s400/Blog18.05.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>In case your ability to evaluate managers
has been dulled by years of exposure to the general run of the practice, let’s
step back and freshen our perspective.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>To clarify: in most situations, the
manager is NOT supposed to be the most accomplished worker bee in the place.
Your widget-making days are over now. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The responsibilities of managers vary
limitlessly, so we’ll start with the universal basics: What is a manager
supposed to do? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">First
of all,</b> the manager is responsible. The buck stops right at the manager’s
door. Actually, right inside the door.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If whatever needs attention doesn’t appear
in your job description, then you’re responsible for communicating to someone about whatever
part of it is on your turf.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>The mechanics of your job operate somewhat
against each other: It’s up to you to design and tend processes to enable good
people to do good work; and to guide and discipline those good people to use
the processes in doing the good work. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>If the people aren’t good enough, it’s up
to you to ensure that they come up to speed or are replaced.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Process constricts people’s freedom, and
many of them don’t like that. Processes often turn out to be, or become,
ineffective in achieving the desired outcomes. You’re the one who is to fix
that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This people factor turns out to be the most challenging
aspect of the job to the newbie, and the part most likely to be permanized at
an inadequate level of development.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Bluntly put,</b> many managers never become
competent at managing people.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>They busy themselves with meetings, memos,
managerial trivia and/or – most damagingly – with the task details of the
operation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>It is common that managers, and not just
new ones, avoid the higher and more uncomfortable issues in their role by spending
their time on what is familiar. They’re either out there on the job with everyone
else, or they’re critiquing those who are.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Most of our organizations are no longer in
the old industrial model, the one where the boss enforced the one way everybody
was to perform repetitive tasks.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>This is not to dismiss the importance of
the boss’s input to the organization of the work and the way it should be
performed. And it certainly is important that he/she monitor the various quality
measures of the operation.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Few things stay the same in today’s world,
and work requirements now tend to be briefer, more complex and more tuned to
demanding market requirements. Sure, the manager must know what’s going on out
in the workplace – but the manager mainly is the architect of group outcomes
that meet current, changing standards.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;">In
this role,</b> you don’t have time for the lesser duties. You train people for
them, and that educator role is your prime duty when you’re the manager.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>And there’s the rub. The main object of
your attention, the top priority in your role, is that changeable,
elusive, sometimes baffling and often frustrating invaluable asset . . . the
human being.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Your job is to get people to consistently
do the right things the right way, to learn and perfect work activities they’ve
never done before and may not be too eager to learn and do now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>You can’t do it all yourself, so you have
to delegate training and supervision as well as the work itself. You must learn
all kinds of skills in communication, psychology, perception, persuasion. And
broader, deeper and tougher stuff they never told you about back there at
promotion time:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"><span style="mso-spacerun: yes;"> </span>Patience and tolerance.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">CONTRIBUTE:</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> How were you introduced to
management? How does that experience influence the way you manage people today?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;">SEE ALSO: The</span></b><span style="font-size: 12.0pt; line-height: 115%;"> Hardest Thing You’ll Ever Do<o:p></o:p></span></div>
http://jimmillikenproject.blogspot.com/2010/02/hardest-thing-youll-ever-do.html<br />
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